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Shkreli then lied, and lied, and lied some more to hide his ongoing losses of investors' money from bad trades, including a failed short trade that left one of his funds $7 million in the red, and then continued lying as he used money and stock looted from his drug company Retrophin to repay them, Srinivasan said.
"All told the defendant stole more than $10 million from Retrophin and its shareholders," Srinivasan said of Shkreli, who is charged with eight criminal counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as securities fraud.
But Brafman portrayed Shkreli as a self-educated scientific boy wonder who slept nights in a sleeping bag in his office as he worked to develop a cure for a deadly disease afflicting children, while at the same time making millions of dollars for his investors.
Brafman said that contrary to the government's suggestions, the investors in the MSMB funds not only got their original investment amount back, but often much more.
The attorney also depicted Shkreli as an "odd duck" prone to wearing furry bunny slippers and a stethoscope around the corporate offices while serving as CEO of Retrophin.
Brafman said Shkreli was bullied and called names behind his back by co-workers as well as Retrophin board members who eventually ousted him because he didn't look or act like a conventional CEO.
Shkreli's colleagues made fun of him among themselves, calling him "Rain Man" because they believed he was autistic, and challenging his sexuality by suggesting he was gay or bisexual, Brafman said.
"As Lady Gaga said, he was born this way," Brafman said, referring to Shkreli's often awkward nature. "You wanna call him names? Call him names. Just don't call him guilty. 'Cause he's not guilty."
Shkreli, sitting at the defense table, sometimes nodded in agreement with Brafman's broad defense of him and with the lawyer's attack on expected witnesses against him.
The lawyer said that all of the people who placed their money with Shkreli's funds were sophisticated investors, or had top-notch financial advisors, and were "high rollers" who wanted to exploit Shkreli's genius to make big returns.
Brafman also said that the many consulting agreements and settlement deals that Shkreli cut, which the government claims were used to cover up his looting of Retrophin, were signed off by the corporation's board and lawyers.
Brafman suggested that Retrophin board members and its current CEO would lie when they took the witness stand against Shkreli, and told jurors that they would be able to discern those lies from how the witnesses answered questions and were contradicted by documents, emails and other evidence.
The question at the end of the trial, Brafman told jurors, will be "not whether Martin Shkreli is nuts, but whether the case is nuts."
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On Thursday, HB1637, the Missouri Sound Money Act passed the House, making Missouri one of two states with a sound money still alive in 2012. South Carolina is the other, and is scheduled to vote on their bill next week. The bill simply adds gold and silver as legal tender alongside Federal Reserve notes, giving the citizens of Missouri a choice in currency:
“The Missouri Sound Money Act of 2012 is established which changes the laws regarding legal tender as follows: (1) Specifies that gold and silver issued by the federal government is legal tender in Missouri;”
It was not smooth sailing in the Show Me State. A significant number of representatives attended a press conference at the Governor’s mansion when the morning vote was held. Thus, the opposition erupted in celebration when they unexpectedly defeated the bill by a single vote, after which the morning session was immediately adjourned.
All was not lost. Representative Paul Curtman, the bill’s sponsor, worked a strategy to have the bill reconsidered in the afternoon session. While highly unusual, House Majority Leader Tim Jones asked Democratic Imperial Representative Tim Meadows to reconsider the bill in the afternoon session in light of the fact many members who were absent in the morning would likely return. Meadows agreed, and in the afternoon session the bill passed 95-37.
“Credibility is everything and when it comes down to it, my credibility is on the line here this day” Meadows said.
Representative Curtman had the understatement of the day stating, “It was a strange day on the floor. In the end though, nobody had a viable argument as to why it should be defeated.” A strange day indeed. After the bill’s passage, a Democratic Representative who strongly opposed the motion to reconsider had to be physically removed from the House chamber as he confronted a fellow Democrat who aided in allowing the bill a second vote.
It was a bitter pill for the opposition to swallow. Jackson County Democratic Representative Mike Talboy showed how badly misunderstood the sound money legislation is, lamenting, “It’s embarrassing…. that we were actually having the debate over putting us back on the gold standard.”
Fact is, the “gold standard” has never been implemented in this nation, so there is no “going back” to it.
It’s the score at the end of the game that counts. By a count of 95-37, sound money is alive in Missouri. Now Republican Senator Chuck Purgason is expected to shepherd the bill through the Senate Ways and Means committee. With only four weeks left in the general session, it will be interesting to see if more drama is in store, or if the Senate understands the issue and will pass it quickly. Even then, it must be signed by Democrat Governor Jay Nixon, who when informed of the bill’s existence earlier in the year took a “no position” stance.
Stay tuned. It is unlikely the drama in Missouri is over.
ACTION STEPS
If you live in Missouri and support Constitutional, Sound Money – contact your Senator and tell them to support this bill. Firmly, but politely, press them to vote YES – both in Committee and in the Senate as a whole.
1. CLICK HERE for Missouri State Senator Contact Information
2. CLICK HERE for members of the Ways and Means Committee
*******
CLICK HERE – model legislation for use in your own state, the Constitutional Tender Act
CLICK HERE – to track the progress of similar legislation around the country
Doug Tjaden is Executive Director at The Christian Liberty Project. He blogs regularly at dougtjaden.com. He is an avid proponent of helping states re-institute sound money through education and networking. Doug is also an author, talk radio co-host, pastor and father of five and is a national speaker on economics, politics and religion. He is passionate about restoring our nation on a foundation of virtue, honesty, and truth.
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New York Fashion Week sees a lot of innovation on the runway, but one Muslim designer managed to bring something completely new to the catwalk this year.
Indonesian designer Anniesa Hasibuan made history when she had every one of her models wear a hijab. While models have worn hijabs in Fashion Week shows before, this was the first time the entire cast donned a headscarf. Hasibuan is also the first Indonesian designer to have a show at the event.
SEE ALSO: Snapchat filters come to life at New York Fashion Week
Hasibuan's collection included flowing tunics, gowns and pants with distinctly Indonesian flourishes, such as detailed embroidery and luxurious fabrics.
Image: selcur acar/Getty Images
Hasibuan was applauded across social media for helping bring Islamic fashion into the mainstream like others before her. In 2015, Muslim designer Hana Tajim collaborated with Uniqlo and Mariah Idrissi appeared in a campaign with H&M wearing a hijab. Hasibuan's show is part of a powerful new trend.
"I believe fashion is one of the outlets in which we can start that cultural shift in today's society to normalize hijab in America so as to break down stereotypes and demystify misconceptions," Melanie Elturk, chief executive of Haute Hijab, wrote on Instagram. "Last night's show was a huge leap forward in that direction."
Image: selcuk acar/Getty Images
The collection is part of the modesty movement in fashion, led by innovative Indonesian designers like Hasibuan. The designer has her own high-end boutique in Jakarta, the country's capital.
Hasibuan produced 48 different looks for Fashion Week, 38 of which were ready to wear and 10 of which were evening gowns. After the show, she received a standing ovation.
"I am so thankful to international and local media from Indonesia for exposing my show. I did not realize the result can be this amazing, and I am thrilled and humbled by the welcome reaction given," Hasibuan told CNN.
Image: selcuk acar/Getty Images
But on Instagram, Hasibuan identified her challenges:
"Behind the success of a show there is a great team that was strong and sturdy when it was hit by dissent," Hasibuan wrote. "And we can handle it."
Watch and fawn over Hasibuan's designs below:
History made at #NYFW by Anniesa Hasibuan whose Spring 2017 collection had all the models wearing a hijab. pic.twitter.com/1uvJsKuZTk — Meena (@meenavoguee) September 14, 2016
BONUS: Watch these corgi butts in slow motion
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AMBERNATH: A 36-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his 10-year-old son for not attending school on early hours of Sunday.After helping the police arrest her son for killing her grandson, the woman, Khatunbin Khan, 56, also died of cardiac arrest.The accused, Aziz Majid Khan, a resident of Ambernath township in Thane district, last night questioned his son Sajid as to why he was neither studying nor attending school for several days.When the boy could not give any satisfactory reply, Khan, in a fit of rage, beat him up severely with a stick on his head, following which he became unconscious, police said.The police said when Khatunbin saw Aziz fleeing, she alerted the neighbours.The neighbours rushed the boy to a local health unit for medical assistance. However, the boy succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to the Thane Civil Hospital.“On Sunday morning, the police was informed by Khatunbin’s neighbour that she had suffered a cardiac arrest and died,” said Mahesh Chimte, assistant commissioner of police, Ambernath region of Thane police. The accused has been booked under section 302 (murder) of the IPC and further investigations are on, police said.
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Between 1988 and 1995 (save for 1991 when he did not have a camera) Toronto editor and filmmaker James Leahy documented Toronto Pride, both the street life and parade. Over the last few years he completed editing his footage of one year’s Pride and released it (we posted a number of them here on Spacing). This year he completed editing the 1995 event, the last year of his footage. Here are all seven of his films. Some are quite lengthy. All contain amazing visual records of both what Toronto looked like during this period (especially Church and Yonge Streets) and glimpses of individuals that some may recognize. Below each film is Leahy’s description of the film in his own words.
In this year when Pride’s critical political nature is debated (by some) you’ll see through each film that Pride is and always has been inherently political even as its movements evolve, and a lot of fun too. Enjoy them this Pride Week. – Shawn Micallef
1988: This was my first year filming Pride — you can tell. Highlights include the official opening of the temporary AIDS memorial, performances by local artists David Ramsden, Scott Thompson, David Roche, the Nancy Sinatras, and Sheila Gostick. The parade reaches its climax with “We Are Family.”
1989: For this year I wanted to recapture the physical and emotional feeling of attending Pride Day from beginning to end. It’s quite lengthy and features lots of street dancing to the music of Mustang Sally, a stand-up routine by Sheila Gostick, a couple of songs from the Gay Men’s Chorus, and some dance steps from the Triangle Squares. Parade included. The video begins with a tour of the gay village, filmed the day before Pride — of interest to Church St historians.
1990: This was a wet, cloudy, cool day. For some reason, the theme of love permeated my editing of this footage. We get to see The Heretics perform, a monologue by Sky Gilbert, a song by the Nancy Sinatras, and an auction by Jack Layton and Olivia Chow. The finale was filmed at the AIDS Memorial and features a delightful dance of metallic balloons.
1992: This is one of my favourites. The first year City Council proclaimed Lesbian and Gay Pride Day. The energy was upbeat and positive. Everyone was in a great mood. I’ve included extended performances by Japanese drumming group Wasabi Daiko, Bitch Diva (with John Alcorn and Jenna Reid), and an electrying set by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
1993: This short video features the parade, an encounter with two leather men, a saxophone solo, and a surprising karaoke performance by my friend, the late Joe Lobo. I also include a shot of the brand-new permanent AIDS memorial, which was officially opened at this year’s Pride.
1994: Politics marked this year’s parade: a side group of protesters marched to Queen’s Park to condemn the government’s flip-flop on extending same-sex benefits to all workers in the province. The video begins with the image of a ferris wheel on Church Street.
1995: The complete parade, laced with references to the regime of newly elected Conservative Premier Mike Harris.
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Jimmy Savile's youngest victim was just TWO: Shocking evidence reveals how 'worst ever' paedophile abused 500
New evidence also uncovered showing Savile's links to government
He was allowed to intervene in a union dispute at Broadmoor Hospital
Despite staff concerns he was able to secure unchecked access to patients
Jimmy Savile: The predatory paedophile had full access to patients at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire and intervened in a staff dispute
More than 500 people have reportedly been abused by Jimmy Savile, new figures show, as shocking evidence emerged of how the pervert talked his way into the heart of government.
Details of his close relationship with those in power came as research showed that his youngest victim was just two years old.
The research by the NSPCC was commissioned by the BBC's Panorama as part of an investigation into Savile's links to government.
Whitehall officials referred to the predatory paedophile as ‘Doctor’ as they allowed him to intervene in a staff dispute at Broadmoor Hospital.
The DJ and Top of the Pops presenter even gained direct access to then health minister Edwina Currie, who suspected Savile of trying to ‘blackmail’ staff after discovering some were illicitly sub-letting hospital housing and fiddling overtime.
Confidential Department of Health documents have now revealed the full extent of Savile’s influence over the Berkshire hospital.
He first became involved through the League of Friends charity in the late 1960s and was later given his own set of keys and a house in the grounds.
In 1987 he was appointed by the Government to serve on the secure unit’s board and was paid £1,230 a month.
Despite having no medical qualifications, the entertainer was referred to as ‘Dr Jimmy Savile, OBE, KCSG, LLD’ in official documents. He secured unchecked access to patients, despite concerns from staff about his behaviour.
A year later, Mrs Currie made Savile the head of a task force addressing tensions between Broadmoor’s management and unions. A memo suggests his appointment was pushed by senior civil servants, who appear to have been ‘star-struck’ by him.
It adds that Savile was going through the hospital’s main departments like a ‘dose of salts’ and that he would be instrumental in solving the row with medical staff.
‘I would say he was one hundred per cent sincere and committed in his desire to improve the management of Broadmoor and the lives of its patients,’ the memo says.
‘But I doubt he’ll let anyone stand in his way, and he clearly doesn’t mind how many people get trampled underfoot in the process.’
The entrance to Broadmoor, the high-security psychiatric hospital: In 1987 Savile was appointed by the Government to serve on the secure unit¿s board and was paid £1,230 a month
Panorama quoted Mrs Currie as saying Savile told her some staff were sub-letting hospital housing and fiddling overtime claims. He planned to use the information to pressure the union to end an overtime ban.
Asked if this was blackmail, Mrs Currie said: ‘That sounds like blackmail to me. I made a note of it at the time, because I was so surprised.
‘If this meant that we broke the strike and could help the patients, then we had an issue of ends justifying means.’
The scale of Savile’s offending continues to grow and Thames Valley Police said it has received a further 16 complaints against him. Broadmoor Hospital is one of dozens under NHS investigation over the scandal, including Stoke Mandeville.
Peter Watt, of the NSPCC, said: ‘There’s no doubt that Savile is one of the most, if not the most, prolific sex offender that we at the NSPCC have ever come across … somebody who at his most prolific lost no opportunity to identify vulnerable victims and abuse them.’
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Dr. Julien Clément was home in Quebec City on Sunday, relaxing and enjoying some down time with his wife and young family.
It was his day off. He wasn't even on call. But when his phone rang, all of that changed.
"I was planning my summer vacation at home [in] my pyjamas, and I got a phone call from one of my colleagues. There's been a lot of gunshots somewhere, and please come in."
Clément is a surgeon and the medical director for trauma at l'Enfant-Jesus hospital. The hospital is the trauma centre for Quebec City, and it's the one to which five of the victims of Sunday's mosque shooting were rushed by ambulance.
"l'Enfant-Jesus got all the critically injured," Clément told CBC News Tuesday. "All the gunshot wounds."
Team of 8 surgeons
Some patients needed more than one kind of surgeon, he said. "Let's say you got multiple gunshot wounds, and you got a broken leg, and you got torn lips, and something in the abdomen. Well, you'll need three types of surgeons."
l'Enfant-Jesus hospital has a team of eight, including specialists in thoracic, orthopedic and oral/maxillofacial medicine. By the time Clément arrived, six had already been called in.
Clément got to work on one of the critically injured patients. The man had multiple injuries in the abdomen, the liver, the small bowel and the pancreas.
'I'm also a bit angry about that guy that shot them. There's no bound to human craziness.' - Dr. Julien Clément
When that was done, Clément co-ordinated all medical care for the rest of the gunshot victims. At one point, four of the operating rooms were in use.
"Its a team play," said Clément. "That's what it is. If you want to manage a situation like this, you cannot do it by yourself."
He said the unsung heroes were the emergency medical technicians, who performed triage on the victims swiftly and delivered them to the hospital.
By 5 a.m. Monday all surgeries were completed. For the 37-year old surgeon, only then was there time for reflection.
"Afterwards, you're like, whoa, poor guy. He's got two kids. How [can this] happen in Quebec City?" said Clément.
"I don't think anybody could be totally emotionless with what happened."
Afghanistan veteran
Usually, most of the gunshot wounds doctors see in Quebec are from suicide attempts or hunting accidents. Either way, Dr. Clément is no stranger to them.
He was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for 16 years and was deployed on three separate occasions to Afghanistan. At the Canadian base hospital in Kandahar, he treated victims of improvised explosive devices.
Dr. Julien Clément, left, discusses a patient with one of his colleagues at the Kandahar base in Afghanistan in 2010. The Quebec surgeon was deployed three times as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. (Radio-Canada)
His experience in that country prepared him for events like Sunday's.
"I think it helped on two points," he said. "First, the capacity to take care of gunshot wounds. I've just seen more than many other people.
"The biggest issue is how to deal with multiple patients at the same time. That's something I really took from Afghanistan, because it was day in, day out."
But what happened Sunday night in his hometown, he said, is different from what he experienced overseas.
"That happened in my backyard," he said, pausing. "And I really don't like that."
Emotional and tense
What he'll remember most from Sunday night, he said, is the families of the gunshot victims. Up to 40 were at the hospital that night, standing vigil in a waiting area by the operating room.
It was "emotional" and "tense," he said, and he made sure the families were kept abreast of any medical developments with their loved ones.
"Facing 40 persons outside the operating room, it's something I was not prepared to do. There's no fun of doing that."
He paused again.
"I have difficulty expressing myself on that topic, because it's more emotional."
On what has been called the terrorist act Sunday night, he doesn't hesitate: "I'm so sad for the Muslim community of Quebec City. I'm also a bit angry about that guy that shot them. There's no bound to human craziness. In French, we say 'la folie humaine.'"
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The head of Canada's largest aboriginal group says Prime Minister Stephen Harper must acknowledge the "horrors" of nutritional experiments once done on hungry children by increasing support for native child welfare.
Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations said research showing that at least 1,300 already-hungry children and adults were part of the experiments was driving an emergency resolution at the organization's annual meeting in Whitehorse on Wednesday.
"We're going to call on the Prime Minister to give effect to the words that he spoke when he said: 'The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for far too long. The burden is properly ours as a government,'" Mr. Atleo said in reference to Mr. Harper's 2008 apology for residential schools.
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A paper by University of Guelph food historian Ian Mosby detailed tests conducted between 1942 and 1952 on northern Manitoba reserves and at six residential schools across the country.
Well aware that the children and adults were hungry and living on starvation-level diets, the researchers chose to use them as unwitting subjects for tests on the effects of nutritional supplements instead of recommending they be properly fed.
Mr. Mosby found that vitamins and minerals were provided to some and not to others. Milk rations at one school were deliberately held below recommended levels. An enriched flour that couldn't legally be sold elsewhere in Canada under food adulteration laws was distributed. Some dental services were withheld from children over concerns that healthier gums and teeth could mask study results.
Mr. Atleo's father was one of those children at a residential school in Port Alberni, B.C. "It hits home in a deeply personal way," he said. "I've heard these stories – some kids allowed to have their oranges and vitamin Cs and others not. I've heard these stories all my life."
When The Canadian Press broke the story Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said the current federal government was shocked by the findings. Andrea Richer said in an e-mail that Mr. Harper's 2008 apology was intended to cover all such wrongdoings.
And on Wednesday, she said in another e-mail: "We are concerned about these allegations and officials are looking into the matter."
Mr. Atleo wants a more substantive response. He said the Harper Conservatives should stop fighting efforts by the truth and reconciliation commission to get full access to government documents about residential schools. They should also support aboriginal calls for better funding for child welfare and work to ensure food security in aboriginal families, he said.
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"Our people have been faced with incredible unilateral decisions that seem to be … in the spirit of that same behaviour back in the '40s," Mr. Atleo said. "They should be working with First Nations and work on genuine efforts to reconciliation."
The leader of one Manitoba aboriginal community that was part of the experiments agreed.
"The apology came, but nothing follows in terms of how do we restore the dignity that they tried to destroy," said Chief Ron Evans of the Norway House First Nation. "As First Nations leaders today, we're dealing with those intergenerational impacts with very little resources to assist us."
Jean Crowder, aboriginal affairs critic for the Opposition New Democrats, pointed out that half of First Nations children still live in poverty.
"Given that level of poverty, we know that kids are not getting appropriate nutrition," said Ms. Crowder, who is attending the AFN meeting. "Perhaps as part of a gesture of good faith, they could look at some of the nutrition programs that are provided."
Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, also in Whitehorse, said it's important that Canada's historical skeletons come out of the closet.
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"There are impacts on this that go into multiple generations, and impacts that have lasting negative effects on communities," he said. "It's also why it's so important that Canadians know what the shameful history of our relationship with First Nations peoples across the country is, so we understand where we need to go in terms of restoring a balance in our relationship with the people who lived on this land first."
The past isn't past, Mr. Atleo said – it remains with us to this day. "For there to be reconciliation," he said, "there has to be truth."
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There was a student club at Imperial College, London, at the turn of the century that encouraged aeronautical engineers to abandon their studies. The club had all dropped out of that course for an alternative degree, and knew the mind-boggling level of maths that would be required to succeed. And so, if any aeronautical engineer still had a social life by the second semester, the club would advise them to change to a less taxing degree.
It’s an extreme example of careers advice, but one that comes to mind reading a recent paper from Ellie Darlington and Jessica Bowyer.1 In it, the duo argue that UK universities should add at least A-level mathematics to their entry requirements for prospective chemists. Their argument is based on a survey of 332 chemistry undergraduates, over 80% of whom felt that A-level maths and/or further maths had been a good preparation for their degree. They also highlight that previous studies have shown the majority of chemistry applicants have higher level maths anyway.
Of course, there are counter arguments. While everyone knows chemistry involves a fair old chunk of maths, it’s much more than a discipline of numbers. Forcing students to take maths might make them fall out of love with science, depriving the industry of much-needed talent. Another valid concern is the inherent elitism of putting further maths as a requirement; not all schools are able to teach it, and it could result in students from deprived areas missing out places in favour of kids from well-funded schools.
The authors point to the number of chemistry departments offering additional maths support as evidence of a deficit in students’ mathematical ability. Yet this is also an indication of the effort universities have made to keep the door open for students from widely different backgrounds.
If, with support from faculty and fellow students, you can understand the material, does it really matter how you get there? And should universities be shutting the door on capable, hungry young minds who choose their A-levels based on love of subjects rather than as a box-ticking exercise as part of a career plan?
Instead of forcing allied disciplines on students, we should trust them to make the right decisions. Chemistry needs maths, but it also needs new chemists.
You can read Education in Chemistry’s Storify of the debate on Twitter here.
The authors of the paper have also published a follow-up blog.
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Introduction
We will see more division with SSD products in 2015; the stage is already set, low-cost SSDs will dominate the SATA space. Products like the new Crucial BX100, the Mushkin Reactor, and others will give users acceptable performance at very low prices, and unlike in the past few years, larger capacities.
On the other side of the coin, performance products can no longer live within the constraints of SATA 6Gb/s, and will move on to the PCIe bus. We've had PCIe drives for years, mostly with RAID controllers, and more than one SATA to flash controller pieced together. These products work really well with workstation workloads, but low queue depth performance is actually slower than simple SATA-based products. After you tack on a price higher than the cost of purchasing an equal number of 2.5" SSDs, it's easy to see why all-in-one RAID products never caught on with enthusiasts, gamers, or power users.
By June, the market will be flooded with native PCIe SSDs in many form factors. These products will eventually tip up in M.2 gum stick-like parts, PCIe cards that are either native or hold the M.2 parts, and finally SATA Express, a standard that routes two PCIe 2.0 lanes to a 2.5" form factor drive.
Plextor is one of the few companies to release a native PCIe SSD to the market. We've tested native PCIe parts from SanDisk in the A110, the Samsung XP941, and the original Plextor M6e, but only Plextor's part is a full retail unit that you can purchase from more than just a handful of specialty stores.
Specifications, Pricing, and Availability
The new Plextor M6e Black Edition shares the same specifications as the original M6e we tested at this time last year. The Black Edition evolves the M6e product line by adding an aluminum heat sink to dissipate heat from the M.2 form factor SSD that rests under the cover, and also supports Plextor's new PlexTurbo 2.0 cache software - neither were available on the M6e. The original M6e does work with PlexTurbo after a firmware update now; it just wasn't available when the product launched.
The M6e Black Edition comes in three capacities, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. Today we're focusing on the largest capacity, but in the coming days, we will follow up with the other two models as performance testing concludes.
The PX-512M6e-BK reads sequential data at 770 MB/s, and writes sequential data at 625 MB/s. This is the fastest model in the trio offered by Plextor. To achieve those speeds, the M6e Black Edition uses a PCIe 2.0 x2 bus. The faster interface to the host PC also allows the M6e Black Edition to handle random data faster than SATA 6Gb/s devices. The 512GB model delivers 105,000 random read IOPS, and exactly 100,000 random write IOPS.
The spec list shows us something we rarely see on these types of devices, non-Windows OS support. Plextor states the M6e Black Edition will work with different Linux operating systems.
At the time of writing, the new M6e Black Edition products are not available from the usual outlets like Newegg and Amazon in the US. The new products should turn up any day now. We're not going to speculate on the final price, but we should know more by the time we finish testing the other two capacities. The M6e Black Edition comes with a five-year warranty from Plextor.
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Charles Hurst, who was Vice Principal at Pennbrook Middle School in Montgomery County Pennsylvania, is the latest school official gone bad. Hurst was arrested for what prosecutors are saying were sexually charged text messages with a former student (13 years old). He will face charges of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and possession of cocaine.
The Montgomery County DA says that Hurst befriended the young boy in question and spent many hours with him including sharing activities such as working out, running, studying and even attending a 76ers game. Hurst was also very generous to the boy’s family having routinely purchased items for them and supplying the boy with a monetary allowance.
The boy told authorities that Hurst first introduced the concept of masturbation to him while they were riding in a car together. The boy was told by Hurst that the act was healthy and that it would make him grow smart and healthy. Hurst is also accused of giving the boy advice on how to perform self pleasuring acts that would feel better and improve the experience going as far as to provide an extra dollar to his allowance each time that the boy reported via text messages to him that he had masturbated.
Text messages were found on the boy’s phone that collaborated the fact that conversations about masturbationand and other inappropriate topics occurred.
Hurst is no longer employed by Pennbrook having accepted a job with the Lower Moreland School District in the same capacity earlier this year. A statement on the school’s website:
The safety and emotional wellbeing of our students is of the utmost importance to the school district. Thus, the news that former employee Charles Hurst was charged with crimes involving a student is met with great concern. The district is working cooperatively with the Montgomery Township Police Department as they investigate the matter further.
Mr. Hurst is being arraigned today for his charges.
Top Photo: Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption WATCH: More on the cost of living in Singapore
Singapore has again been judged as the world's most expensive city but costs across the world have been highly volatile, according to researchers.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Singapore as the priciest ahead of Zurich, Hong Kong, Geneva and Paris.
London was sixth and New York seventh on the list that compares the cost of a basket of goods across 133 cities.
The cheapest were Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai in India, the EIU said.
Volatility
The EIU charts the expense of cities by comparing them to the cost of living in New York.
Although Singapore was the most expensive, the cost of living there was 10% cheaper when compared to New York than was the case in the EIU survey a year ago.
Researchers said they saw considerable movement in the rankings as cities coped with economic factors ranging from the strength of the US dollar and currency devaluations to falling oil and commodity prices and geopolitical uncertainty.
"In nearly 17 years of working on this survey I can't recall a year as volatile as 2015," said Jon Copestake, an editor of the survey,
"Falling commodity prices have created deflationary pressures in some countries, but in others currency weakness caused by these falls has led to spiralling inflation."
The EIU said India and Pakistan accounted for five of the 10 least expensive cities in the world.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, moving to fill a seat held vacant for nearly a year by Senate Republicans and touching off what is expected to be a furious ideological showdown early in his administration.
Mr. Trump scheduled a prime-time televised announcement from the White House for 8 p.m. to present his choice to a national audience, his first foray into the judicial wars that have consumed Washington for generations. At least some Senate Democrats were already preparing to block anyone he picks.
The leading finalists were believed to be two federal appeals court judges with strong conservative records: Neil M. Gorsuch of the Denver-based 10th Circuit and Thomas M. Hardiman of the Third Circuit in Pittsburgh, according to Republicans close to the process. A third appeals court judge, William H. Pryor Jr. of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, has also been reported to be in the running.
Any Supreme Court nomination would raise partisan tensions, but this one is coming when Washington is already on edge over the fast-paced, sharp-edged beginning of Mr. Trump’s presidency. In particular, the capital is polarized over Mr. Trump’s executive order temporarily shutting the nation’s borders to refugees worldwide and to any visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
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Sheyi Ojo helped England to Under-20 World Cup success this summer
Fulham have agreed a season-long loan deal for Liverpool youngster Sheyi Ojo.
The 20-year-old, who can play anywhere across the front line, was a member of the England side that won the Under-20 World Cup this summer.
Ojo has previously played Championship football during loan spells at Wigan and Wolves.
He made his Liverpool debut in an FA Cup tie at Exeter in January 2016 and has since played a further 12 games for the Anfield club.
Ojo has also represented England at every level from under-16 to under-20.
Fulham vice-chairman Tony Khan told the club website: "I know that he's going to be a great addition to our squad."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
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THESE are dark times for anybody who cares about religious freedom, and the fate of minority faiths, in Pakistan. It is exactly five years since Shahbaz Bhatti, the minorities minister who was the only Christian in the government and an opponent of the country’s blasphemy law, was assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom marked the anniversary by urging the abolition of that law. But far from honouring the slain minister’s memory, there seem to be ever more Pakistanis who agree that death is an appropriate fate not only for blasphemers but for those who dare to question the rightness of such a penalty.
One such questioner was Salman Taseer, a liberal-minded governor of Punjab province; in January 2011 he was gunned down by a self-appointed scourge of liberalism: his own bodyguard. That assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged this week in a Rawalpindi prison, and up to 100,000 people attended his funeral or staged protests elsewhere in Pakistan. They saw Qadri as a lone, heroic practitioner of divine justice, not a murderer.
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Taseer’s crime in the eyes of Qadri and his supporters was his support for Asia Bibi, a poor Christian woman who is on death row after being accused of blasphemy by neighbours in a petty quarrel. Taseer had also described the blasphemy ban as a “black law”. So powerful was this week’s groundswell of support for Qadri that the government stopped broadcasters carrying news of the funeral and no front-rank politician dared to comment publicly. In an atmosphere rife with conspiracy theory, Qadri’s supporters claimed he was hanged on February 29th, a date which comes round every four years, in order to deny him an anniversary.
What is the origin of Pakistan’s fury against religious offence, real or imagined? Liberal Pakistanis like to stress that the country was not always so prickly about faith. Some blame the change of mood on Zia ul Haq, the Islamist dictator and cold-war ally of the West who seized power in 1977 and was killed in 1988. Others recall that laws banning blasphemy go right back to the British Raj.
It is certainly true that General Zia built a network of religious schools that prepared people to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, and generally fanned the flames of religous zeal. The old British bans on blasphemy, later inherited by independent Pakistan, were also introduced in a pragmatic spirit, designed to keep order. Under General Zia, things got much harsher; disrespecting the Koran or Islam’s prophet could incur life imprisonment or, in the latter case, death. Then in 1991 a federal religious court ruled that death was the only appropriate punishment for blasphemy.
The number of blasphemy cases began soaring in the 1980s; between 1929 and 1982 there had been only nine, according to the Jinnah Institute, a think-tank.
But the idea of honouring individuals who take it upon themselves to liquidate blasphemers, or those who are soft on blasphemy, is nothing new. In 1929, a young carpenter’s apprentice was executed for killing a publisher in Lahore who had circulated a controversial work on Muhammad. Huge crowds attended the funeral; the atmosphere must have been very similar to this week’s outpouring of grief, anger and vindictiveness.
Here’s another confusing part of the story. The two best known streams of South Asian Islam, whether in Pakistan or Britain, are the puritanical Deobandis and the Barelvis, whose more elaborate forms of worship, involving saints and shrines, are sometimes called popular Sufism. The madrassas founded by General Zia follow the Deobandi path. In Britain, it is the Deobandis who are often perceived as hard-liners and advocates of self-segregation, while the Barelvis are seen as more moderate and amenable. The Taliban and several terrorist groups are offshoots of the Deobandi movement, although there are other ultra-pious Deobandis who are peaceful.
But the adulation of the two killers (Ilm-Deen in 1929 and Qadri in 2016) is a Barelvi phenomenon. Barelvis have never ceased to honour the grave of Ilm-Deen and they attended this week’s funeral in huge numbers. By contrast one of Pakistan’s most senior Deobandi clerics defended the execution, saying nobody was above the law.
Unfortunately, the roots of religious rage in Pakistan can’t be reduced to one particular school of Islam, one political leader, or one period of history. If only things were that simple.
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Bam Margera net worth: Bam Margera is an American actor and stunt man who has a net worth of $50 million. Bam Margera was born Brandon "Bam" Margera on September 28, 1979. He has made himself a household name thanks to a multifaceted career as a television and radio personality, professional skateboarder and daredevil. Hailing from West Chester, Pennsylvania, Bam first gained notoriety with the formation of the CKY Crew which released a series of popular skateboarding/stunt/prank videos between 1999 and 2002. Along the way, Bam became friends with Jeff Tremaine, a former editor of Big Brother magazine. Tremaine quickly added Bam and his friends to his rapidly growing motley team for a new production that would go on to be called Jackass.
Jackass aired on MTV for three seasons and was very popular despite sparking controversy. After its demise, Bam participated in the 2002 theatrically released Jackass: The movie, which grossed over $64 million domestically. Bam moved onto his MTV spinoff shows entitled Viva La Bam, which aired for five seasons, and a nine-episode series, Bam's Unholy Union, which followed Bam and his fiancée Missy through their engagement and subsequent wedding. Bam joined the Jackass crew for another sequel, released in 2006 and grossing $84.6 million worldwide. As a professional skateboarder, Bam is a member for Element Skateboards demonstration team, Team Element. Other projects include three films which Bam wrote, performed in, produced and directed, and Radio Bam, which first aired on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004. He is the owner of West Chester based bar and theater, The Note. Bam Margera participated in 2010's Jackass: 3D. He also owns a popular clothing line.
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Cinemark Bills Aurora Shooting Victims for $700,000 Theater chain seeks legal fees from survivors after being found not liable for security lapses
The owners of the Aurora, Colorado, theater where 12 moviegoers were killed in a shooting in 2012 want nearly $700,000 from survivors and families of the victims.
According to the Denver Post, lawyers for Cinemark filed a “bill of costs” for $699,187.13 earlier this month in Arapahoe County District Court for fees associated with a lawsuit filed by more than 20 survivors and parents of those murdered that was eventually won by the theater chain.
The plaintiffs contended that the Century 16 theater where shooter James Holmes opened fire during a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” was inadequately equipped.
Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside Gateway High School where he has been searching franticly for his son Alex Sullivan who celebrated his 27th birthday by going to see "The Dark Knight Rises," movie where a gunman opened fire Friday, July 20, 2012, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez) less Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside Gateway High School where he has been searching franticly for his son Alex Sullivan who celebrated his 27th birthday by going to see "The Dark Knight ... more Photo: Barry Gutierrez, Associated Press Photo: Barry Gutierrez, Associated Press Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Cinemark Bills Aurora Shooting Victims for $700,000 1 / 22 Back to Gallery
Also Read: Cinemark Found Not Liable in James Holmes Theater Massacre
Specifically, they claimed that the exit door used by Holmes to gain entrance to the theater should have had an alarm. They also asserted that a lack of armed guards and gaps in security camera coverage aided the attack.
Holmes was sentenced to life in prison last August when a jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether to condemn him to death.
A jury sided with Cinemark in the civil case last month. According to Colorado court rules, the winner of such litigation is allowed to recover legal costs, but ultimately judges will decide whether the victims will have to pay the theater chain.
Cinemark owns more than 480 theater locations.
Read original story Cinemark Bills Aurora Shooting Victims for $700,000 At TheWrap
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Disney is hard at work bringing about the Robopocalypse. Behold the throwing bots, the brand-new batch of robots Disney can't wait to unleash into their parks. This new line of androids can throw a ball back and forth with a human guest and even juggle! Disney hopes they'll raise theme park audience participation to a new level, especially when the robots start throwing knives at people's heads.
Here's the official statement from Disney Research Hub:
Entertainment robots in theme park environments typically do not allow for physical interaction and contact with guests. However, catching and throwing back objects is one form of physical engagement that still maintains a safe distance between the robot and participants. Using a theme park type animatronic humanoid robot, we developed a test bed for a throwing and catching game scenario. We use an external camera system (ASUS Xtion PRO LIVE) to locate balls and a Kalman filter to predict ball destination and timing. The robot's hand and joint-space are calibrated to the vision coordinate system using a least-squares technique, such that the hand can be positioned to the predicted location. Successful catches are thrown back two and a half meters forward to the participant, and missed catches are detected to trigger suitable animations that indicate failure. Human to robot partner juggling (three ball cascade pattern, one hand for each partner) is also achieved by speeding up the catching/throwing cycle. We tested the throwing/catching system on six participants (one child and five adults, including one elderly), and the juggling system on three skilled jugglers.
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And just like that, the humans were never heard from again.
[via Daily of the Day]
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Aside from ongoing anticipation/speculation surrounding Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance, next month’s Oscars, and the recently greenlit Entourage movie(!)—what, Turtle and Vince don’t deserve to carouse with supermodels onscreen like the rest of us?—Hollywood has been quietly buzzing about casting rumors surrounding Spider-Man 2, Marc Webb’s next installment in the superhero reboot franchise. Yesterday, it was reported that Paul Giamatti—our favorite unofficial Robert Pattinson understudy—is in negotiations to play the villain Rhino in the sequel, which is scheduled for release next year. (“Rhino” may not be a handsomely named character, but it is an improvement over the actor’s 1994 N.Y.P.D. Blue credit: “Man in Sleeping Bag.”) If Giamatti signs on to the role, he will be joined by Jamie Foxx (as fellow villain Electro), and charming starring couple Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.
Countering the excitement over these casting reports, James Franco—who co-starred in Sam Raimi’s preceding Spider-Man franchise—has offered his thoughts on last summer’s iteration, The Amazing Spider-Man, which some saw as an unnecessary installment. “Ehhhhhhh,” the actor offered MTV as his initial unimpressed reaction. “I mean, they could have strayed a little bit more from the original. It was like, ‘Why?’ I guess they made a lot of money. Congrats. Good for them. Sam and I moved on. We made Oz.” It bears noting that the closed caption for the entire sound bite will simply read, “Meow.”
Franco’s latest collaboration with Raimi is Oz the Great and Powerful, a fantasy adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novelThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, due in theaters this March. Fortunately for Franco, no cast members from the 1939 adaptation are available for derisive comment.
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Jewish vigilantes brandishing iron bars and cans of pepper spray took to the streets of Paris to attack pro-Palestinian demonstrators, it emerged today. (Tuesday)
Shocking images shot in the French capital at the weekend show around 150 mainly young men chanting racist slogans as they went on the rampage.
It came as President Francois Hollande warned that he did not want to see ‘the Israeli-Palestinian conflict imported into France.’
French Jewish groups have complained about an increase in anti-Semitism in recent months, with many accusing Muslim youths of targeting them.
But a video shot close to the Place de la Bastille on Sunday, and verified by police before being posted on YouTube, suggests that the pro-Israel groups are in fact taking the law into their own hands.
It will cause concern in moderate Jewish communities around Europe, especially in Britain, where the Israeli bombardments of Palestinians in Gaza have come in for huge criticism.
While security guards are regularly used to defend synagogues and other Jewish sites in cities like London, vigilante groups would be banned.
In Paris, CRS riot police do not make a single arrest among the Jewish gang, thought to be linked to the extremist Jewish Defence League (LDJ), despite them openly fighting in broad daylight.
Members can be heard chanting ‘****-you Palestine’ as they smash up chairs and metal tables to be used as missiles.
Gas canisters, pepper spray, metal bars and wooden sticks are used by the vigilantes, some of whom are wearing crash helmets.
They run through the streets towards pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and skirmishes break out while the police stand by.
When the gang runs back towards police lines, there is no attempt to arrest any of them.
In contrast, pro-Palestinian demonstrators were later accused of trying to break into synagogues, and six of them were arrested.
Alexis Bachelay, a Paris MP for the ruling Socialist party, said: ‘There has evidently been a media manipulation about who really got assaulted.
‘These are extremely serious facts that need to be investigated thoroughly by the police. It is not the first time that young French people of Muslim origin are stigmatised by the media.
‘French people of Muslim origin should be protected by the law when demonstrating. They should not be attacked by radical groups like the LDJ’.
In turn, local Jewish community leader Joel Mergei, accused anti-Israel protestors of reaching a ‘new low’.
An LDJ source insisted that the gang members pictured were ‘defending’ the Jewish community in Paris.
Report by Peter Allen, Paris
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A Phoenix man who has been brightening up his neighborhood for more than three decades with an elaborate Christmas display says he’s pulling the plug this year over an uproar that critics are calling “liberal overregulation at its finest.”
Lee Sepanek’s “Christmas House” draws thousands of visitors annually, but some homeowners around him complained to the city months ago, saying the attraction creates a traffic headache as crowds block driveways, AZFamily.com reports.
“It makes me sad, something I’ve done for over 30 years," Sepanek said.
A month ago, city officials met with Sepanek and suggested that he hire people to direct traffic in the Arcadia neighborhood and that he needs a permit to continue selling or giving away hot chocolate and cookies on his property.
“They told me that they can't stop me from decorating but if they have more complaints of blocked driveways, which I know will happen, they would come over and shut me down,” he told AZFamily.com.
Sepanek says the food and drink sales are to help offset the annual cost of around $10,000 for hosting the display, which he never makes a profit from. But this year, it’s not going to happen as the city’s demands and neighbor complaints left him discouraged.
"They come here for free, and have a great time, but this year, not going to happen," Sepanek told Fox 10.
He has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a lawyer to “fight city hall”, and, according to AZFamily.com, some supporters in his neighborhood are planning to take his lights and decorations and spread them around seven homes instead.
"I’m gonna put up a big sign at the end of my driveway explaining what happened,” Sepanek told the website.
The property usually has trees decorated from top to bottom and animatronic displays in the windows. Sepanek starts setting it up in October by testing lights from dozens of storage bins and aims to have it running every year by Thanksgiving.
But some residents who didn’t want to be identified told Fox 10 that the light display also leaves trash in their yards and prevents them from hosting their own holiday parties. A police spokesperson contacted by KPNX said cops have gotten two complaints about it in the past five years.
"It's a little bit of a headache, but I wouldn't give up the Christmas House for it, I'll deal with the headache. It's Christmas,” resident Dan Harris, in support of Sepanek, told Fox 10.
Sepanek has also found allies in local and state Republicans, who are comparing city officials and its Democratic mayor to the Grinch.
"This is bureaucratic, liberal overregulation at its finest,” Arizona GOP Chariman Jonathan Lines said, according to KPNX. “A government and mayor that think they know better are trying to swoop in and control a neighborhood Christmas light display. Don't be a Grinch Mayor Stanton – listen to your constituents and have some holiday spirit!"
City Councilman Sal DiCiccio added that “city officials have officially replaced the Grinch and are looking to shut down a 30-year tradition in Phoenix.
“City officials need to relax and get a life,” he said, “we have better things to do than to regulate Christmas tree displays.”
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With news from the Asking Alexandria camp coming in thick and fast over the past week or two, according to a new short video posted by Maxime Solemn, a solo artist based in Belgium, the band’s now former frontman Denis Stoff has allegedly avoided refunding Solemn for a paid vocal feature that he was unable to deliver.
According to the video uploaded by Solemn, Stoff was offering to provide guest vocals to bands and artists before joining Asking Alexandria and whilst still a part of his former outfit, Down & Dirty.
After paying a deposit and joining Asking Alexandria, Stoff contacted Solemn to inform him that he’d no longer be able to provide the agreed feature spot. Following several exchanges of contact, Solemn was still awaiting and refund, and, at the time of writing, is allegedly still yet to receive it. Solemn sent payment for the guest spot in January 2015.
You can watch the video posted by Solemn explaining his side of the story further below:
Solemn also recently had a short video interview with YouTuber Brian Storm, during which he expands a little further on his position with this incident:
Along with the above videos, Solemn has also provided a downloadable zip folder via Dropbox (here), which contains screenshots of his interactions with Stoff regarding the transaction and chasing the return of his payment.
At the time of writing, Stoff is yet to provide a response regarding his departure from Asking Alexandria other than a tweet replying to Ash Avildsen, the CEO and founder of Sumerian Records. You can find the tweet embedded below:
@ashavildsen I left AA because I can't be in a touring band at this point of my life. There's no drama & I don't want to be a part of it. — Денис Шафоростов. (@realdstoff) October 22, 2016
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Near Churchill, on the edge of Canada’s Hudson Bay, large numbers of polar bears are gathering right now, waiting for the ice to form. You can see mother bears snuggling with cubs, young males wrestling with each other, and large solitary bears ambling across the tundra.
This polar bear spectacle is part of their annual migration back out onto the sea ice, where they can finally hunt seals again after summer’s long fast.
Unfortunately, in recent years this group of bears has been facing longer ice-free seasons. Many now suffer from malnutrition and others face starvation—especially females with cubs.
In December, another group will be gathering in Russia. This one is made up of people, however, and they will be meeting to talk about the future of these bears and the global population as a whole.
The International Forum on the Conservation of Polar Bears will bring together representatives from polar bear range countries, along with scientists, members of indigenous communities, WWF and other conservation leaders.
Forty years ago the range countries signed an agreement on polar bear conservation. Thanks to their forward-thinking commitments, several bear populations have stabilized and largely recovered from the historic threat of over-harvest.
Now, loss of sea ice habitat from climate change has become the greatest threat to polar bears. Shrinking sea ice also opens up polar bear habitat to oil and gas development and increased shipping. And ice changes are also forcing bears ashore and into greater conflict with people.
The range countries now have the opportunity to take action before polar bear habitat is irreparably changed. Effective conservation is only possible, though, with commitments to adequate management and habitat protection.
WWF will be attending the forum and urging these governments to make firm commitments and to see them through to action. We would like to see them complete a global conservation plan, cooperate on critical research into polar bear population status and habitat requirements, and to also collaborate with indigenous peoples, the international community, corporations, and other organizations to make this work a reality.
Add your voice to secure a future for polar bears.
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Today digital payment protocol provider Stripe launched support for Bitcoin.
The company, which provides payment acceptance for popular services like Instacart, Kickstarter, and Shopify, has long been expected to add Bitcoin to its list of payment methods.
Stripe first started testing its Bitcoin capabilities back in March 2014 with an open beta program. As of today the program is open to anyone. Here’s a list of capabilities the payment company is rolling out:
Anyone can sign up to accept bitcoin — there’s no waiting period (which is still the case with other products)
If you’re already a Stripe Checkout user, adding bitcoin is just one line of code
Bitcoin transactions will appear side-by-side with fiat currencies in the Stripe dashboard, making it simple to manage
Bitcoin transactions will have clear, public pricing (0.5% per transaction)
During its beta program Stripe conducted Bitcoin transactions in 60 different countries.
Since Stripe first announced its foray into cryptocurrency, other payment companies have jumped onboard the Bitcoin bandwagon. Both PayPal and its subsidiary Braintree accept Bitcoin through their platforms, though Braintree currently only allows merchants in its Bitcoin private beta to transact the coin. PayPal, meanwhile, offers merchants in North America access to Bitcoin payments.
“We want to enable merchants to add new payment instruments as easily as possible, and are really happy we’ve been able to provide Bitcoin support to Stripe Checkout users with just one extra line of code,” said cofounder John Collison.
In the past year, Stripe has added support for both Alipay and Apple Pay.
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TV-2, one of the last independent channels, must cease its cable broadcasts following decision by state broadcasting network
An independent TV station based in Siberia will go off-air on 1 January on the orders of Russian authorities following months of pressure, its editor-in-chief, Viktor Muchnik, said on Monday.
TV-2, a popular channel in the city of Tomsk and one of the last independent channels, will have to cease its cable broadcasts one month later, following the decision by the state television and radio broadcasting network.
Long-running frictions with the authorities have intensified this year, Muchnik said.
“We were under constant pressure to change our editorial policies,” he said. “We’re not an opposition channel; we simply give everyone an opportunity to speak. Before, this was considered normal, but then they started telling us who to invite and who not to invite.”
TV-2 reaches about 600,000 people and about 50,000 watch its news programmes on which local officials are often criticised and analysts not seen on state television contribute from Moscow via Skype.
The closure decision led to unprecedented rallies of support earlier this month in Tomsk.
The channel’s problems began earlier this year when it went off the air for an extended period due to an “accident” at the local TV tower. “Other channels get these problems fixed quickly and we were off-air for two months,” Muchnik said.
The outage provoked allegations of censorship.
Muchnik said 200 people had been informed about their imminent dismissal.
A number of Russian media outlets have been overhauled this year, as the conflict in Ukraine has fuelled one-sided and even fake news coverage on state channels.
Several news companies have had their editors fired while others have lost studio space.
“The political situation has changed and now all media is being purged,” Muchnik said. “If we didn’t have news and analysis, our problems wouldn’t exist.”
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TyLoo to use AttackeR at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017
YuanZhang "AttackeR" Sheng will return to the active roster of TyLoo for DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017.
TyLoo removed three players from their active roster last month after the players had contacted another organisation despite being under contract with TyLoo. One of the three players, HaoWen "somedoby" Xu, returned to the starting line-up before the WESG World Finals, contrary to the remaining two players that were banned by numerous organisers from their events.
The Chinese team announced that YuanZhang "AttackeR" Sheng has returned to the starting five, leaving just YuLun "fancy1" Cai suspended. With Zhen "HZ" Huang still serving TyLoo on loan from AllGamers, TyLoo will attend DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 with the following roster:
Ke "Mo" Liu
Hui "DD" Wu
HaoWen "somebody" Xu
Zhen "HZ" Huang
YuanZhang "AttackeR" Sheng
DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 will take place on February 15-19 and offers $450,000 in prize pool money.
Image courtesy of cnFrag
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CHICAGO (STMW) — A west suburban man was found shot to death in a vehicle early Sunday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
Police responded to a shots fired call in the 4500 block of West Monroe Street about 5:10 a.m., police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said.
When officers arrived on scene they found John Serpe, 44, sitting in the driver’s seat with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his chest, authorities said.
Serpe, of the 2900 block of Maple Avenue in Downers Grove, was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:15 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
No one is in custody as Area North detectives investigate.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A lawmaker in the Iranian Kurdish city of Urmia invited an Oscar-winning actor to visit the Urmia Lake.
Hadi Bahadury, a member of the Iranian Consultative Assembly representing the city of Urmia, invited American actor Leonardo DiCaprio to visit the lake that is under threat of drying up.
The Hollywood star posted an Instagram photo of the Urmia Lake and demonstrated his concerns regarding the threats the lake faces. This post encouraged the Iranian lawmaker to invite DiCaprio to view the lake in person.
The Kurdish representative, Bahadury, thanked DiCaprio for his solidarity. “I hope this social work leads to more people around the world being encouraged to do something on the situation of the Urmia Lake,” Bahadury said.
“Every action and any similar social activity to draw the attention of the international community is highly welcomed,” Bahadury added.
In his Instagram post, DiCaprio wrote, “A dilapidated ship dock remains on dried up Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran.”
“It used to be the biggest salt lake in the Middle East, but it now contains [5] percent of the amount of water it did two decades ago due to climate change, dam construction and decrease in precipitation,” he added.
Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iranian Kurdistan, northwest Iran. According to the environmentalists and Iranian government officials, the country’s most famous lake has shrunk by nearly 93 percent since the 1970s, and only 7 percent of it has remained.
Reporting by Baxtiyar Goran
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
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Back in December, Bandai Namco announced that Street Fighter's Akuma will join the roster for its fighting game Tekken 7. Don't expect more Street Fighter characters to follow, however.
Senior game designer Michael Murray tells PlayStation Lifestyle that Akuma is likely the only crossover character for Tekken 7 in part because guest characters can "throw off" the game's world and setting.
"As far as more charters goes, right now, Akuma is the only one we have planned," he explained. "[Producer Katsuhiro Harada] and I have always been against guest characters because it kinda throws off the Tekken world and setting. But Akuma fits the bill, and we wanted to tie him into the story so that the crossover is not some cheesy gimmick. The feedback is really positive."
While there are no plans right now for further Tekken 7 crossover characters, Murray said Bandai Namco is "open to the possibility in the future."
Akuma comes to Tekken 7 as part of an arcade update called Fated Retribution. A release date for this update has not been announced, but it will also include more graphical improvements and other content.
The Fated Retribution update will be available for the arcade version of Tekken 7 in Japan. The fighting game is also in development for PlayStation 4, but is only currently scheduled to launch in Japan.
For lots more on Tekken 7, be sure to read the full PlayStation Lifestyle interview.
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THE Royal Australian Air Force has published a complicated maths formula online and asked job applicants to solve it if they want to apply for a position as an engineer.
The RAAF challenged engineers to solve the problem to find a phone number to call and apply for a job.
It hires aeronautical, airfield, armament and electronics engineers with Bachelor of Engineering qualifications, Business Insider reports.
Defence Force recruiters obtained the formula from a University of Melbourne professor.
But the maths problem - which involves infinite sums, integrals, complicated trigonometry and imaginary numbers - doesn't produce the RAAF recruitment phone number because of typos within the copy.
This is the published formula:
The first four terms in the formula produce the Defence Jobs phone number, 131901, when added together.
The remaining terms are intended to equal zero, but two typos have made that impossible:
The formula works if you replace sin2 x with sin (2x) in the third-last line, and (2k-1)! with (2k+1)! in the second-last line.
An Air Force marketing manager from Defence Force Recruiting took the twin typos in good humour.
"Our original formula included two small typos which we have now fixed," they said.
"We hope people still enjoy the inherent fun and hidden challenges. Our thanks go to the eagle-eyed Reddit users who spotted them first. You are exactly the sort of people we'd be looking for."
The Australian Defence Force puts job applicants through a two-day recruiting process, including interviews with a career counsellor, nurse, psychologist, doctor and military staff member.
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The Green Arrow is not happy with how things have gone down in the Chargers search for a new stadium. (photo courtesy: DC Entertainment)
The consensus among the San Diego Chargers fan base is they have not been treated very well by team owner Dean Spanos. That opinion is apparently shared by the superhero community.
Stephen Amell, the actor who plays Oliver Queen on the hit TV show, "Arrow," is also a big sports fan. He got in to character to send a message to the Bolts ownership about what has happened, and how they can make amends. (warning, there is a bit of salty language involved)
Arrow Message For The Chargers
Stephen Amell, who plays superhero The Green Arrow in the television series, was asked about how the Chargers have handled their stadium search. (Published Friday, Jan. 29, 2016)
In case you're unfamiliar with the meaning of, "You have failed this city," it's the iconic line the Arrow uses when facing down villains on the show. If you hear it, you're very likely in very, very deep trouble.
(DISCLAIMER: we are not, in any way, endorsing physical harm to anyone associated with the San Diego Chargers football team ... this is for popular culture and entertainment purposes only)
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle striker Billy Mckay has been given permission to speak to Wigan Athletic about a proposed move to the DW Stadium.
Northern Ireland international Mckay, 26, is out of contract at the end of the season.
Since joining the Highlanders from Northampton Town in 2011, he has scored 62 goals in 141 appearances.
Caley Thistle chairman Kenny Cameron says Mckay is discussing terms "with a view to an immediate transfer".
Should the move be completed in the current transfer window, Wigan will likely have to pay a fee for McKay.
Billy Mckay's career stats Leicester, 2008-09: youth career, no first-team appearances Hinckley, loan, 2007-08: 1 goal in 2 appearances Northampton, 2009-11: 16 goals in 84 appearances Inverness, 2011-present: 62 goals in 141 appearances
"Following an approach from Wigan Athletic FC late yesterday afternoon and following discussions with the management team, the board of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC agreed to allow Billy Mckay leave to travel to DW Stadium," said Cameron on the Inverness website.
"Billy has never hidden his ambition to compete at the highest possible level and has always conducted himself in a professional manner in this regard.
"We are grateful to Wigan Athletic FC for the courtesy shown in speaking to us before opening their discussions with the player."
So far this term, Mckay has scored 10 goals and Inverness manager John Hughes recently said he expected Mckay to leave at the end of the campaign.
"We are forever mindful of the risk of losing players during any transfer window and, as always, have contingency plans in place should agreement on personal terms be reached with Billy," added Cameron.
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College Station on cusp of reaching 100K population milestone
Whether a city wants to grow or remain small, reaching 100,000 inhabitants is a big deal.
College Station is on the brink, officials say.
The estimated June population was 98,721 and is expected to reach the 100,000 mark within weeks or months, city spokesman Jay Socol wrote in a recent blog post.
City officials estimate the number of inhabitants by how many certificates of occupancy the city's Planning and Development Services Department has issued, Socol said.
With some large multi-family housing developments nearing completion in the Northgate area near Texas A&M University, the magic number could be quite close.
"I started working on this piece back in March," Socol said of his July 8 blog post. "We've been on the cusp for a while."
Bob Cowell, the city's planning director, has estimated that College Station will reach 100,000 inhabitants in late summer or early fall, Socol said.
The city's population size includes some students from Texas A&M University but only those who declare College Station as their home when the decennial census is taken.
With the town approaching 100,000 residents, city officials have learned some of the fine points of population growth, he said.
One is that only the U.S. Census Bureau can determine official population. Cities are left to estimate the number of inhabitants, a hair-splitting distinction best left to demographers.
Another consideration, Socol noted, is that once a city reaches 100,000 population, candidates for city office must file lengthy personal financial statements that become public record.
"It's a pretty extensive amount of financial disclosure that not everybody would be comfortable with, but it's a fact of the matter," Socol said.
But that won't take effect until 2020, when the U.S. Census Bureau takes the next official population count, he said.
Sooner than that, the College Station City Council might take on the question of whether to extend its extra-territorial jurisdiction, which now measures 3.5 miles beyond the city limits.
As soon as the city reaches 100,000 inhabitants, the council could elect to extend its jurisdiction to five miles, but there's no requirement to do that, Socol said.
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It seems not standing up for the national anthem at a theatre is the new 'supporting Maoists' or 'drawing offensive cartoons'--because if you choose to sit through it, you will be abused, beaten and like one man in Kerala found out recently - even accused of sedition.
The latest incident in the 'national anthem in theatres' controversy, according to a Mumbai Mirror report, took place in the upmarket PVR Phoenix in Lower Parel, Mumbai, when a 31-year-old man was abused and assaulted by six men on Friday because his girlfriend, a South African, did not rise to her feet when the national anthem played.
Mahek Vyas, and his partner, Nicole Sobotker, were at the theatre to watch the 10.50 pm show of Michael Cuesta's Kill the Messenger when the incident occurred.
"I heard someone shout that she should stand up for the anthem," Vyas said. "I realised that the person sitting a few rows behind us was referring to my girlfriend, so I turned back and told him she was not an Indian. The guy said it wouldn't hurt if she stood up, to which I replied, 'she doesn't have to if she does not want to.'"
The man then started abusing him and attacked him.
This is not all. The officer in charge at the NM Joshi Police Marg, where the duo went to file a complaint, told him that they should have made Nicole stand up for the anthem.
And this incident should not be viewed in isolation.
Recently, a 25 year old man in Kerala was charged under section 124 A of the IPC (sedition) for allegedly “sitting and hooting” when the national anthem was being played at a movie theatre. According to an Indian Express report, Salman’s lawyer said that the district sessions court had declared that his “offence was more serious than murder” at his first bail hearing, at which he was denied bail. Salman had to pay a surety of Rs 2 lakh and surrender his passport to be granted bail.
On 7 October, Preity Zinta threw a boy out of another movie theatre, this time in Mumbai, for refusing to stand up during the national anthem. However, the 'patriotic act' of hers earned her the ire of social media as most of them said the actress was simply indulging in 'goondaism.'
So, what exactly does the law say on the matter?
Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act states:
Whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian National Anthem or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
But, where does it talk about standing up? Nowhere. And certainly, it talks nothing in the text of the law that mandates a charge of sedition. As long as you don't actively stop someone from singing the anthem, there is nothing wrong with not standing up.
There was only one case that has been adjudicated regarding the behaviour during national elections: The case of Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors vs State of Kerala & Ors.
The case deals with the expulsion of three children belonging to the Jehovah’s Witness sect being expelled from the school because they refused to sing the National Anthem during the morning assembly. In its 11 August 1986 decision, the Supreme Court held that the freedom of religion protected the appellants—children belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination of Christianity—from penal action if they declined to join the national anthem when it was sung daily in their school.
Earlier, a Caravan article noted that this protection not to sing was granted on the basis of freedom of religion, since members of the denomination are forbidden by their religious tenets from singing the national anthem of any country, or swearing allegiance to any entity other than Jehovah.
However, the article noted that no cases have examined the question of not singing—or, for that matter, not standing up—owing to political convictions.
Does standing up during national anthem make you more Indian and the vice versa? No.
Maybe, it's time that Indian courts take a significant stride ahead of Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors and state that citizens have the freedom to not join or not stand during the singing of the national anthem, not just because of their religious beliefs, but their personal beliefs and preferences. It's time we realise patriotism cannot be forced on you through such inane, superficial and empty gestures--like beating you up if you don't sing the national anthem.
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A Minnesota House panel voted today to repeal a state background check for gun purchases, opting to rely instead on a federal system.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Wabasha, was described as mandate-reduction effort that would cut costs.
But Democrats and police objected to the surprise move, saying it weakens protections for the public. Republicans on the the Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee didn’t buy that argument and supported the proposal on a party-line 10-7 vote, sending it to the Civil Law Committee.
The bill repeals the state’s requirement that someone wanting to buy a handgun or semiautomatic miltary-style assault weapon from a federally licensed firearms dealer must first acquire a permit. Now, people can get the permit, without charge, through police after a seven-day waiting period.
Dennis Lien can be reached at 651-228-5588.
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I finally have gotten done with my main puffball in Smash, Kirby! Since I first played Brawl, he's always been my fav, though in Melee (Since they had to ruin him, and make him so awful, that's he last place on the tier list) He's my third, after my normally second fav, and then the Ice Climbers at first.
But yeah, I have a lot of fun playing the little puffball in smash, and he'll always be one of my mains no matter what (even in melee)
Also sorry about the lighting with this one, I tried brightening up the color a bunch, but it still ended up dark, which I don't really mind that much, I just it still looks good in the end.
All that's left now of my top 3 mains, I'm gonna make from Smash Bros Melee are Nana (So I can her to Popo) and my second fav character.
Kirby (c) Nintendo/Hal
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Augmentation of allergic histamine release in vitro with human leukocytes was produced by numerous nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory--analgesic agents, primarily the arylalkanoic and anthranilic acids. Augmentation occurred without release of histamine by the agents in the absence of the allergen (ragweed) and only under conditions of an accompanying release by the allergen. As a consequence of augmentation, less allergen was necessary to produce a given response in the presence of these agents. It is suggested that some of these agents might enhance mediator release in immediate-type hypersensitivity reactions. The same agents reported to exacerbate chronic urticaria, i.e., indomethacin, mefenamic acid, sodium salicylate, aspirin, sodium benzoate, and tartrazine, also augmented allergic histamine release. Pharmacologically mediated augmentation of mediator release from stimulated cells is suggested to be involved in the exacerbation of existing chronic urticaria by the acidic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory-analgesic agents.
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General Nikolai Makarov meets Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (unseen) in the Kremlin, June 3, 2008. REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Pool
HELSINKI (Reuters) - U.S. and Russian military chiefs on Tuesday met for the first time since Russian forces crushed government troops of America’s ally Georgia in a war that has strained relations between the two countries.
The U.S. embassy in Helsinki said Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met Russian General Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian general staff.
An embassy spokesman described the tone of the meeting as “cordial, but candid.”
“(They) discussed a wide range of issues of mutual concern, including the current security environment in Georgia, the future of the NATO alliance, and the current status of U.S. missile defense plans in Europe,” the spokesman said.
In the aftermath of the five-day war in Georgia in August, in which Russian forces overran areas of the country, the Pentagon said it would review all aspects of its relationship with Moscow.
Washington shelved a deal on civil nuclear cooperation with Russia after the conflict, but the two countries have kept talking on issues such as North Korea’s nuclear program and moves to press Iran to suspend its nuclear work.
Russia also strongly opposes U.S. plans for sitting parts of a missile shield in central Europe, saying it could start an new arms race.
The United States contends that the shield, elements of which are planned for Poland and the Czech Republic, is needed to protect against possible missile attacks from what it calls rogue states, specifically Iran.
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So much for a recovery in handset sales. Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world's largest handset manufacturer, reported worse-than-expected first-quarter net profit of ?122 million euros ($161 million), a 90 percent drop compared to net earnings of ?1.2 billion euros ($1.58 billion) a year ago. Earnings per share came in at a mere ?0.03 euro ($0.04), compared to ?0.32 euros ($0.42) a year ago. Its much watched sales also took a dive, dropping 27 percent to ?9.3 billion euros ($12.2 billion), from ?12.7 billion euros ($16.7 billion) a year ago. Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo blamed the hit on revenues on the "extensive destocking by operators and distributors" of inventory already in the sales channels in Q1.
As analysts had predicted, the one bright spot for Nokia was its touchscreen 5800 device. Though it was a latecomer compared to other touchscreen models from competing device makers, the comparatively cheap 5800 XpressMusic managed to sell 2.6 million units in the first quarter, and a total of over 3 million since its November 2008 launch. Nokia sold 93.2 million handsets during the first quarter, a 19 percent drop from a year earlier, which helped push its overall market share down to 37 percent, a 2 percent decline compared to a year ago.
More earnings details after the jump.
Nokia said it would continue its drive to diversify into internet services. The handset maker reported that net sales in its Services unit?which includes web services such as mobile maps and its music store?came in at ?150 million euros ($197 million), up 79 percent year on year, but still a drop in the ocean of the company's overall revenues. In a statement Kallasvuo said, "In what has been an exceptionally tough environment, we continue to invest in a focused manner in consumer internet services delivered across our broad portfolio of mobile devices. Combined, these solutions will drive our future growth." The CEO also cited the success of Nokia's 5800 XpressMusic: "Together with Comes With Music, it is a great example of Nokia providing solutions that consumers value."
Release | Report | Webcast
According to a Bloomberg survey of analysts, profit had been expected to hit ?232 million euros ($305 million), while sales were estimated to come in at ?9.8 billion euros ($12.9 billion). Analysts had also been looking for signs that the slump in mobile phones might be recovering after the previous quarters dismal performance from the leading handset makers.
Additional Highlights from Nokia's Q1 Earnings:Average Selling Price (ASP) Down: Nokia mobile device ASP of ?65 euros ($86), down from ?71 euros ($93) in Q4 2008.
Forecasts: Nokia said it expected mobile device volumes in Q2 to remain at the same level as Q1, or to edge slightly higher than Q1. It also said it expects its share of the mobile market to increase sequentially from Q1. Overall, it expects 2009 mobile device volumes for the entire industry to drop 10 percent from 2008 levels, with the first half of the year harder hit.
Related
All Eyes On Nokia To See If Recovery Has Started For Mobile Phone Sales
Earnings: Nokia Keeps Looking To Internet As Profit Crashes
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Displaced from San Juan Copala, a Triqui indigenous community in the municipality of San Juan Juxtlahuaca, the women have begun a hunger strike. They are demanding from the government the fulfillment of the promises of return to their territory or their immediate relocation.
In 2007, the struggle for the autonomy of San Juan Copala was disrupted by the intervention of the Union of Social Welfare of the Triqui Region (UBISORT), operated by the PRI, by surrounding the community and finally the expulsion of around 700 people in 2009. Lorena Merino Martinez—representative of the displaced people whose husband (along with a 7 year old boy) was assassinated in the same year by the paramilitary group—explains:
“Among those who were expelled violently it is because the government doesn’t like autonomy, there are political parties that are in with the government. For that same reason the government sent resources to the political parties in order to put an end to the autonomy, in order to be able to take possession of the community because the government finds it more convenient to have political parties and that is why they put an end to the autonomy.”
The members of the community found themselves forced to leave their territory through violence. Their dwellings, according to Lorena, are now occupied by paramilitary members, who are, in some cases, neighbors. Her husband’s murderer, who was freed in 2012, now lives in San Juan Copala. The territory, she says, contains important mineral resources. “For that reason they expelled us and now the government doesn’t see the conditions for us to return to our community.”
Under the demand for justice and the return to the community, the Oaxacan government signed in 2013 an accord for relocation, but it remained only on paper.
“September 13, 2013 we signed an agreement with the government of the State where they committed themselves to protecting the homes of the displaced and they also agreed to relocate us short term in Central Valleys in 90 days. More than two years have already passed. In Oaxaca there are private properties but the government doesn’t consider the price very high and for that reason they haven’t been relocated to this date.”
Since [Nov. 4], members of the Triqui community have been in the corridor of the government palace in the Oaxacan capital demanding the fulfillment of the agreement of 2013, but the response, one more time, was repression and removal:
“Today [Nov. 5] at 3:30 AM we got more than 200 riot police, and they removed us with force from the corridor of the palace, and dragged old women and young sleeping children, throwing us outside and sprayed gas in the faces of our children and aimed the pistols they carry. And they treat us as if we were delinquents. Three of our companions were threatened by the riot police, and a 12-year old boy was chased by the police.”
During the removal, those who objected had their belongings taken.
The situation of the displaced, it is mean, unjust and violent. Many find themselves refugees in the homes of sympathizers or live on the streets. Lorena Merino told us that they used to have coffee and banana farms and had no problems getting permission to sell their products and handicrafts. But the current conditions are difficult and painful. She is worried about the children of the community that today, because of the displacement, neither eat nor study decently.
“The truth is, living on the street is no decent place for our children, being hungry, cold and thirsty is difficult, and for that reason things have not progressed on the part of the state, and for that reason we have chosen, this day, to go on a hunger strike, right now we have been on this hunger strike for six hours, but not one government official has approached us in order to open dialogue regarding our relocation.”
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There’s a Larry David movie coming to HBO.
Don’t ask what it’s called. Don’t ask what it’s about. Larry David will star and executive produce the film. Greg Mottola (Superbad, Paul) will direct.
Beyond that, HBO isn’t saying much — except that it’s not a Curb Your Enthusiasm movie. And the film is going to occupy David’s HBO efforts for the time being, executives say, which means Curb isn’t going to return for a ninth season anytime soon.
“It means whatever [for Curb that] Larry wants it to mean,” HBO co-president Richard Plepler said. “He has essentially carte blanche. When he wants [Curb] to come back, we’ll be thrilled.”
“I don’t think he’s closed the door to another season of Curb,” fellow HBO co-president Lombardo added.
HBO has aired eight seasons of Curb since 2000 and executives have long given David plenty of production schedule leeway. Last year’s eighth season premiered to 1.7 million viewers after a hiatus of almost two years.
Also, remember the Entourage movie? Well that might still happen. HBO executives told critics at TCA that creator Doug Ellin is writing the script. “We’d still have to make deals with the cast and figure out if this is something that makes sense or not,” Lombardo said.
HBO also made a couple of announcements: Girls and Enlightened will return for their second seasons in January. The network is also planning a Rolling Stones documentary featuring current and previous band members.
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Red "only ever chooses to let out his mates"
Red has been unlocking his kennel using his nose and teeth before releasing his favourite canine companions.
Staff at the south London animal shelter decided to install cameras after arriving each day to find food everywhere and dogs running amok.
The lurcher's kennel has now been made more secure to stop him escaping.
Liz Emeny, from the home, told BBC News Online the most dogs Red had ever released in one night was nine.
Red's kennel has now been made more secure
"For the last two weeks staff have been arriving every morning to a complete mess with dogs and food everywhere," she said.
"He [Red] only ever chooses his mates to let out, with Lucky the dog, who he was found with, being the first to be freed.
"We don't have CCTV cameras in the corridor so couldn't work out how he was doing it so we asked a film company to set up some cameras."
The three-year-old lurcher has been at the home since June after being handed into a London police station in an emaciated state.
"Lurchers aren't usually known for their intelligence but Red is such an inquisitive dog and would be so easy to train," Ms Emeny added.
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This is a list of episodic television programs by episode count with 150 episodes minimum. Episode numbers for ongoing daytime dramas, such as soap operas, are drawn from the websites for the shows. Daily news broadcasts, such as The Today Show and Good Morning America, are not episodic in nature and are not listed.
Note: This list is still incomplete. You can expand it.
Over 5,000 episodes [ edit ]
2,500–4,999 episodes [ edit ]
1,000–2,499 episodes [ edit ]
550–999 episodes [ edit ]
300–549 episodes [ edit ]
150–299 episodes [ edit ]
A. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am al an al ao This number reflects the total episode count for all of the series.
See also [ edit ]
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My longtime friend Scott Beale, who runs Laughing Squid, says:
My wife Lori Dorn, who has breast cancer, tells her story about a TSA agent at JFK on Friday who required her to submit to a pat down due to her breast implants, even though she had an identification card for the implants that is used to prove that the implants are an actual medical device. The TSA agent would not let Lori show her the card.
Lori's first-person account begins:
At what point does the need for security eclipse human dignity and compassion?
Yesterday I went through the imaging scanner at JFK Terminal 4 for my Virgin America flight to San Francisco. Evidently they found something, because after the scan, I was asked to step aside to have my breast area examined. I explained to the agent that I was a breast cancer patient and had a bilateral mastectomy in April and had tissue expanders put in to make way for reconstruction at a later date.
I told her that I was not comfortable with having my breasts touched and that I had a card in my wallet that explains the type of expanders, serial numbers and my doctor’s information (pictured) and asked to retrieve it. This request was denied. Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place. I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared. She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly” loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a TSA Supervisor.
To my further dismay, my belongings, including my computer, were completely out of sight. I had no choice but to allow an agent to touch my breasts in front of other passengers.
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Following days of mystery, the United States has stepped forward and announced that authorities have seen an “indication” that the Malaysia Airlines jetliner may actually have crashed into the Indian Ocean.
A senior Pentagon official said to ABC that the USS Kidd is moving into the area to kick off a search.
“We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean,” the official said, to ABC.
That comes on the heels of a report that found the plane may actually have flown between four and five hours after it disappeared from radar.
The announcement also comes just after Malaysian authorities said they expanded their search to the Andaman Sea for missing plane parts and asked for India to lend a helping hand. The plane was carrying 239 passengers when it went missing.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
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Jets elect not to renew Moose Coach McCambridge
By: Chris White | Published: April 22nd 2016
Kevin Cheveldayoff, General Manager of the Winnipeg Jets, today announced the hockey club will not be renewing the contract of Keith McCambridge as Head Coach of the Manitoba Moose, the Jets’ American
Hockey League affiliate.
“This morning we informed Keith McCambridge that we will not be renewing his contract for the 2016-17 season as Head Coach of the Manitoba Moose. We thank Keith for his professionalism, leadership, and
coaching over the past five seasons as well as for his previous years of service as a Moose Assistant Coach. His commitment and hard work during two separate periods of transition for our AHL franchise should not be overlooked and is greatly appreciated. We wish Keith and his family all the best.”
The Jets also announced they will not be renewing the contract of Manitoba Moose Video Coach Will Craig.
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This study looks at the direct experiences of human rights defenders both in the training room and afterwards. It was initially conceived as an opportunity to examine what key factors influence or improve the uptake of digital security practices by human rights defenders in order to increase the long-term effectiveness of trainings. This emerged from a broad awareness within the training community that time and again tool usage and digital security practices by participants either dropped off some months after a training or were not successfully integrated into their working practices to begin with. Although many theories around the reasons for this existed, closer examination of why was required.
This image and the others used on this site were created as part of a training exercise during the Security in Context study. Participants, who were human rights defenders and advocates, were asked to draw how they perceived the internet.
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A landmark non-discrimination bill that passed in the Philippine House of Representatives would ensure extensive protections for LGBT people if approved by the country’s Senate.
House Bill 4982, or the SOGIE Bill as it is called, passed unanimously on Sept. 20. Its protections cover access to public services, employment, health service, education and much more.
The legislation is now before the Philippine Senate for a period of interpretation and amendments before it can be voted on.
“I rise today to register my vote for House Bill 4982,” said Congresswoman Kaka Bag-ao in a speech delivered in Filipino before the House of Representatives. “18 years have passed since the battle for equality began through this proposed piece of legislation.”
Known as #EqualityChamps, Bag-ao and other members of the house have been leaders pushing for the SOGIE Bill through the 17th Congress. In her speech before the vote, Bag-ao thanked Geraldine Roman, who is the first transgender person elected to the Philippine Congress, Toff de Venecia and Tom Villarin, among other members of the House of Representatives, who were key partners in moving the bill forward.
“This proposed piece of legislation is a product of a long history where lawmakers are not the only ones who were involved — citizens also actively participated. It is a product of relentless campaigning,” said Bag-ao.
Jazz Tamayo, president of Rainbow Rights, an LGBT advocacy group, was deeply involved in the work of developing the legislation, helping to provide key insight into its provisions.
“Part of the process of this legislation was to be ‘back staff’ for the Congress,” said Tamayo. “Most of our champions are not members of the LGBT community, and so they’re not always able to answer questions in the same way. Sometimes this involved sitting behind them and sending index cards of how to answer the questions of other senators.”
Rainbow Rights was one of several organizations working to raise awareness in the broader LGBT community and mobilize support for the bill. From gathering and sharing stories of LGBT Filipinos, to trending on Twitter, the #YESToEquality campaign has been vocal in the country.
Tamayo gave the example of a fight familiar to American advocates — the debate over an amendment pertaining to public restrooms.
“Access to both public and private facilities should be open for everybody. It’s non-negotiable,” said Tamayo. “We know for a fact that most of our cases in the Philippines are mostly trans women who cannot access these facilities or are scared of being embarrassed. If you take out the washrooms from this bill, we will remember.”
“This bill would not have happened without Congresswoman Kaka Bag-ao,” added Tamayo. “The way she has negotiated it with us, constantly consulting the community is so important. These provisions of the law are provisions that came from the community.”
Tamayo is hopeful that the Senate will finish its version of the SOGIE Bill this year.
“If the bill passes in the Senate, the next step is a bicameral process,” said Tamayo. “Representatives from the lower and upper house will harmonize the legislation. After that it will be sent to the executive, and President Duterte can either sign it, veto it or allow it to lapse into law.”
If the process drags on too long, Tamayo told the Washington Blade she worries next election cycle will prevent substantive work being done to move Bag-ao’s work through the upper house.
“The fight for equality is the fight of all persons,” said Bag-ao as she prepared to cast her vote, “And in this fight, our currency is the love for our fellow persons and the hope for a society that is more just, more open, and more equal . . . My vote is a sweet yes to love, dignity, and human rights.”
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Mitt the private equity manager has tough words for Mitt the candidate
Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages.
From: Mitt Romney, CEO, Bain Capital
To: Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate
My friend, I couldn’t help but notice that your campaign has been underperforming of late, what with those sagging poll numbers, the infighting among your staff, and now this unfortunate “47 percent” speech. I’ve turned around dozens of floundering organizations and I’ve rarely seen one in such sorry shape. But I’m here to tell you that this campaign can still be salvaged. It just needs a little restructuring. And some outsourcing. And some firing. You know, the usual.
Here’s how we’ll do it, step by step.
Right-size the workforce. Let me get this straight: An editor at Yahoo News takes a swipe at your campaign and gets canned faster than you can say “hot mic.” But your own “aides, advisers, and friends” are taking potshots at your campaign, and you’re planning “no major changes?” We need to bring back the Mitt who liked being able to fire people. Start handing out pink slips, and don’t stop until at least 30 percent of your workforce has joined the 8.3 percent. Bonus: Raising the unemployment rate is your best chance at this point.
Eliminate redundancies. Politico reports that you had at least three convention speechwriters whose work you didn’t even use. Tell Wehner, McConnell, and Scully to clean out their desks. Instant streamlining.
Bring in a handpicked, temporary turnaround management team. Forget “Karl Rove equivalents.” Get the real Karl Rove. He’s available.
Outsource the phone banks. Your firms used to be “pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers.” You can’t afford to have Americans calling their fellow Americans to tell them to vote for you. Ship this operation to India.
Sell off underperforming assets. With offices in all 50 states, you’re hopelessly overextended. Write off New York and California and all those other blue states. You said it: They’re not going to vote for you, so don’t waste your time. Likewise, stump speeches in Michigan and Massachusetts probably sounded great when you were in growth mode, but at this point you can’t justify those expenses. Yes, I know those are your home states. But this is business—we can’t afford to be sentimental.
Focus on your core value proposition. What are your core values again? Well, anyway, whatever they are, you can’t be everything to everyone. You’re poorly positioned in the health care ideas market, your forays into foreign policy are a distraction, and your position on abortion isn’t paying any dividends either. The way I see it, your only real competitive advantage is that you’re not Obama. Never stray from that single fact, and you might be surprised how far you’ll go.
Leverage up. You’ve got more than $150 million on hand, which is nice—except that you’re going to need half a billion if you want to right this sinking ship. Sell your buddy Adelson another round of promissory notes on Israel policy to raise some fresh capital.
Know your target market. Start referring to the poor and unemployed as “the bums.” The 53 percent will appreciate the straight talk.
Find a high-profile scapegoat. Mitt, I have a lot of respect for the work you’ve done. No one will be sorrier to see you go than I am. But the changes have to start at the top, and let’s face it: You’ve been the source of a lot of the problems around here. Someone’s got to take the fall for this mess, and it isn’t going to be me. I mean, it is going to be me.
Put a fresh face out front. We need a young, ambitious go-getter—a real ideas guy—who we can hold up as the face of this organization. Someone who’d restore the faith of investors and suggest we’re moving in a new direction. What do you make of this Ryan character?
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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce a Rs 36,000-crore capacity expansion plan for SAIL 's Rourkela steel plant when he inaugurates the modernised unit of the state-owned firm on April 1.During his maiden visit to the Odisha-based plant, where a Rs 12,000 crore modernisation and expansion programme has recently been completed to raise capacity to 4.5 million tonnes per annum from 2 mtpa earlier, Modi may also unleash SAIL's "Vision-2025".Sources said SAIL has finalised its blueprint for future expansion which envisions raising the capacity of the company further to 50 mtpa by 2025 with an approximate investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in sync with the country's plan to treble its installed capacity from 100 mtpa now.This is over and above the ongoing Rs 72,000 crore investment that will take its capacity to 23.46 mtpa from 13.8 mtpa now. This phase will be completed by the middle of the next year."The Prime Minister is very hopeful of the potential that can be tapped in the iron and steel sector of the Eastern region. He may deliberate upon the need and his government's commitment to unfurl that potential in his speech after inaugurating the expanded facility of RSP on April 1," a source said.As per Vision-2025, SAIL plans to enhance RSP's capacity further to 10.8 mtpa entailing a Rs 36,000 crore investment in the plant in Odisha. After completion of this phase, RSP will be SAIL's second largest after Bokaro. Work on the next phase of expansion will also immediately start.The state-run steel maker also plans to undertake further expansion in its two other integrated steel-making facilities in the eastern region taking the cumulative capacity to 25.8 mtpa taking into account company's plan to raise capacity of the Durgapur unit to 9.3 mtpa and IISCO at 5.7 mtpa.SAIL also plans to enhance capacity of its Bokaro unit to 14.1 mtpa and Bhilai's to 10.5 mtpa in its Vision-2025.RSP is the country's first integrated steel plant in the public sector.It was set up in 1960 with German collaboration. It is SAIL's only plant that produces silicon steels for power sector, pipes for the oil and gas sector and tin plates for the packaging industry.Among the new facilities that are installed as part of the RSP's modernisation and expansion plan in the current phase is a blast furnace, named "Durga", with a capacity of 4,060 cubic metres.
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PROVO — A sort of polemic has emerged in Utah Valley after a recent article from the BYU Studies journal showed the root cause of divorce was marriage.
“This is truly groundbreaking data,” said head researcher Gary Andrews. “These statistics suggest that unless a person was married, he/she cannot be divorced. Identifying marriage as a key factor in divorce is a huge step forward for social science.”
The team of researchers noted that of couples who broke up, split up, or separated, only 1% were actually married. On the other hand, of those who were divorced, 100% were married at some point.
After reading over the study, David Kovark, a single BYU senior said, “I always had a sneaking suspicion that divorce begins with marriage. Hopefully this will keep my parents from harassing me about dating for a few weeks.”
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Packers Blog The Journal Sentinel's team of Packers beat writers provide the latest news, notes and analysis SHARE
By of the
Green Bay — On second thought, the Green Bay Packers apparently did not dodge any bullets.
The hits keep coming.
Running back James Starks suffered a knee injury in Green Bay’s 23-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday and is in danger of being placed on injured reserve, ESPN Milwaukee reported Tuesday night. Starks would be the 10th player placed on IR.
The report indicated that Starks did not tear his anterior cruciate ligament but with only four games remaining it would make sense for the Packers to place Starks on IR to open up a spot on the 53-man roster. In the fourth quarter of the game, Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson drilled Starks’ squarely on the right knee. Starks limped off the field and appeared to be in pain on the sideline. Still, he re-appeared to carry the ball three times for nine yards on Green Bay’s final drive.
Starks finished the game with 15 carries for 66 yards with a touchdown in the win.
On Monday, coach Mike McCarthy indicated that some players were still being evaluated from the Vikings game, a list that could have included Starks. At that time, he stood by his plan then to stick with a two-pronged attack at running back in Starks and Alex Green.
“As we game plan, we’re going to stay the course the way we’ve gone, but if you feel one’s going a little better than the other maybe we’ll lean that way,” McCarthy said. “I leaned that way a little bit with James. I thought Alex running the ball did a very good job. He graded out a little better on video than I might have been aware of during the game, but I thought James ran the ball very hard.”
Yet now, it looks like Starks is faced with yet another injury. A torn hamstring sidelined the former University at Buffalo back for half of his rookie season, last year he was hounded by ankle problems and Starks’ 2012 season was delayed by a turf toe suffered in Green Bay’s exhibition opener. Starks didn’t play until mid-October and didn’t carry the ball more than five times until November.
Without Starks, it'd be on second-year Green to carry the load. This season, Green has 360 rushing yards on 109 attempts (3.3 avg.) and 22 receptions for 122 yards.
The only other healthy options on the roster right now are fullback John Kuhn and DuJuan Harris, who was elevated from the practice squad last weekend. Johnny White missed the Minnesota game with a concussion. Meanwhile, veteran Cedric Benson (foot) and Brandon Saine are both out for the season.
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We’ve still got two weeks until Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel hits the big screen, but, at today’s press junket for the film, composer Hans Zimmer teased that Snyder already has plans for what is going to come next.
“I just had a conversation recently with Zack where I was trying to look at my life in the future,” Zimmer said. “He was going, ‘Well, we want to go and do this and we want to go and [do this].’ I was thinking, ‘Oh my god. Here we go again.'”
Zimmer is, of course, well known for his work on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. While there’s no solid evidence as of yet to suggest that those three films might ultimately share a cinematic universe with Man of Steel, Snyder is already considering a world beyond the one film.
“Someone asked me, ‘There’s no Kryptonite and no Lex Luthor?'” Snyder smiled. “I said, ‘Well, okay. Within the parameters of this story, there’s no Kryptonite or Lex Luthor, but that’s not to say that they don’t exist in the world. That’s an entirely different question.”
As to whether or not we’ll see either of those elements in a sequel or a spinoff (such as a much-anticipated Justice League project) remains to be seen, but it certainly sounds like Snyder knows what he’d like to see happen next and that he’d like Zimmer to again be involved.
Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni and Russell Crowe and arrives in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters June 14.
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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- A mother was found soiled and passed out in her car Thursday, while her two children were soiled and in the back seat, according to the Pasco Sheriff's Office. She is charged with child neglect.
Heather Napier, 30, of Lumberton Fla., was seen passed out in her vehicle for more than three hours without the air conditioning running, the sheriff's office reported. She had defecated and vomited on herself.
Her children -- a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old -- were found in the vehicle with heavily soiled diapers. The children also suffered severe rashes on their private areas. A deputy changed the children's diapers.
Both children told a deputy that they were hungry.
Naprier was under the influence of drugs, according to the sheriff's office.
There were no car seats in the vehicle.
She is charged with child neglect and is being held on $5,000 bond.
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Two prisoners took advantage of the hullabaloo surrounding Pope Francis’ recent lunch with inmates in Bologna to slip off unnoticed, and the two convicts are reportedly still at large.
During his October 1 trip to Bologna, Italy, the Pope held a during a “Lunch of Solidarity” at San Petronio Basilica, to which 20 prisoners from a local correctional facility were invited, as well as refugees and some of the poor of the area.
According to local media, only when the group was being collected for the return trip to the prison in Castelfranco, about 25 miles outside Bologna, did officials realize that the two men had fled and were no longer with the group.
An hour-long search ensued, which produced no clues as to the men’s whereabouts. The operating hypothesis at the moment is that the two inmates executed their escape between the prayer of the Angelus and the actual sit-down meal with the Pope.
The convicts, who are both Italians from the area around Naples, have yet to be found. Although the nature of their crimes has not been revealed, the men are reportedly not first-time offenders but have served time before.
The Castelfranco facility where the men were being held is divided into two sections, one for rehabilitation of drug addicts and the other for inmates judged a danger to society. It was in the latter section that the two men were living.
Law enforcement officers charges with investigating the case visited the diocesan administrative offices in Bologna to get a better idea of the organization of the lunch with Pope Francis, in the hope of finding some indication of how the men escaped and where they might be headed.
The Castelfranco correctional facility has reported an uptick in inmates with “grave psychiatric problems,” which have made running the operation more difficult.
Francis often includes prisoners in his trips and events, and has washed the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday. Last year, he held a special Jubilee Mass for prisoners at the Vatican.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome
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Steven Avery, the subject of the hit NetFlix documentary series Making a Murderer, gave an audio interview that was recently released, where he insists on his innocence. Avery, who is appealing his conviction for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, is now blaming his trial lawyers, Dean Strang and Jerome Buting, for not properly defending him at trial.
“They didn’t do their job,” Avery said. “If they would do more investigating on the case, they would find all of this stuff.” He insisted that if his attorneys acted properly, he’d be a free man right now. “If they did their job, I wouldn’t be here.”
LawNewz.com founder Dan Abrams discussed Avery’s interview on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday morning, disputing his claim. “It’s not true,” Abrams said of Avery’s claim. “He actually had really good representation.”
Abrams posited that maybe Avery’s been getting advice about another pop-culture true-crime story, specifically the Adnan Syed case featured in the Serial podcast. Syed did have a problem with his lawyers, Abrams said, but that situation is not at all like Avery’s. “Steven Avery had really good, really strong lawyers who represented him vigorously, and they couldn’t win the case. But for him to blame them now, I think is a mistake and his [current] lawyers have issued a statement to us sort of sadly saying that they think he’s mistaken, and that they can understand, considering that he’s been falsely imprisoned.”
The audio interview comes on the heels of a letter written by Avery, published by InTouch Weekly magazine. That letter also accuses Strang and Buting of not adequately representing Avery. “Dean and Jerry didn’t do no [sic] investigation on this case, if they did I would not be in prison,” he wrote. “They would have the suspect if they did there [sic] job!!” According to InTouch, Avery claims that the attorneys didn’t call expert witnesses that could have discussed evidence that may have helped his case.
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Vinyl Me Please: Madvillainy
Madlib, MF DOOM in 2003 – photo by Eric Coleman
August 25, 2014
Vinyl Me, Please is a vinyl subscription service that serves up a classic album from a different artist and label to you each month – "albums that aren’t just good," as they explain it, "but essential for any record collection."
We're proud to announce this month's selection from Vinyl Me will be Madvillain's Madvillainy by MF DOOM and Madlib, an album which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Vinyl Me's release will be a special edition, each stamp numbered, a booklet with the album's lyrics and interview with the artists, and a 12x12 print of illustrations from the All Caps video.
Vinyl Me works on an invitation basis. Request an invite here: http://vinylmeplease.com
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Image copyright Reuters
A French minister has criticised the selection of an English song as the official anthem for French supporters at the Euro 2016 championship.
Andre Vallini, Secretary of State for Development and Francofonie, said it was "incomprehensible" for the French team's song to be in English.
Mr Vallini also berated the French entry at the Eurovision song contest, because of its English chorus.
The minister urged Francophones on Twitter to "rise up".
"At a time when we are defending the place of the French language in international institutions, and especially European institutions... it is incomprehensible that for these two big popular events, the French language throws in the towel," Mr Vallini added.
France is hosting the football tournament, which begins next month.
The song, I Was Made for Lovin' You, was originally performed by Kiss and is being performed for the event by French group Skip The Use.
The Eurovision entry, performed by Amir, is called J'ai Cherche (I Have Searched).
Image copyright AFP Image caption The chorus of Amir's song J'ai Cherche is sung in English
Groups & Schedule - European Championship 2016 - Football - BBC Sport
Euro 2016 draw: Meet the finalists
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like someone who wins championships
One afternoon in the land of GSL, Classic and soO were preparing to enjoy a lovely picnic in the middle of a sunny yet frosty setting. There was a wonderfully large blanket, covered in baskets filled with delectable treats: immortal surprise, roach stew, and sentry sandwiches prepared by a professional Aiur chef. soO, having attended many picnics in the land of the GSL before, licked his lips in anticipation and prepared to sample some of the enticing fare. Although both had a basket of food all to themselves, soO usually spread himself to one or two others before beginning to eat. However, as he reached for a basket full of drone donuts he found himself hesitating, as Classic had already crawled to his side of the blanket and had a hand moving around in the very same basket. soO was surprised by this strange act from his friend.soO mumbled under his breath. Classic stopped rummaging around in the picnic basket, looked at soO, and nodded expressionlessly. Upon removing his hand from the basket, Classic showed soO that there were two pylons preventing soO from taking any food from the picnic basket, and a cannon was being warped in out of reach. The bewildered soO picked up the basket, but could not reach the cannon before it was due to finish. Giving up, he looked around to see what else he might enjoy instead, but Classic had found himself a seat right in front of him and was preparing a sort of battle stance with his arms at strange angles, as if he was preparing to grab soO. soO looked closer, seeing that Classic was clutching a pylon in each hand, and stared Classic in the face with utter horror while his companion remained completely emotionless.soO hesitated, perhaps wondering what had gotten into his friend. Classic ruthlessly chewed at a probe pastry. After a lengthy and extremely tense standoff, soO attempted to seize the closest picnic basket and use his body to cover it up. However, when he looked the basket, soO discovered that Classic had somehow already snuck a pylon under some of the healthier treats in the basket, a process which had ruined the tastiness of the fine cuisine. Classic watched as his “friend” searched the inside of the basket for a way to rid himself of the pylon. With increasing frustration, soO tried to sneak some of the snacks from a fourth basket. Confidently and emotionless, Classic walked over to him and placed a pylon right on top of all of the basket’s contents.soO looked like a ruined man, as he felt undermined by his long-time friend. He shouted towards Classic. “I thought we played fairly! I thought we were friends, I thought we enjoyed food together. Classic, I was sure that you are a nice person! You embody the sweetness of the Protoss dishes you feast on when we have picnics in the land of GSL!”"What happened?"Despite this outburst, Classic continued to stare at soO,his face a, before looking around to make sure soO wasn’t raiding picnic baskets at other corners of the blanket. soO observed this strange behavior with growing curiosity. He soon thought to himself, “Perhaps Classic is merely selfish. He simply prevents me from eating anywhere else so that I will eat with him.” With wonder, soO attempted to take from one more basket, one rather close to the two that Classic was slowly dining on. Although he didn’t notice initially, Classic soon realized that soO was trying to steal from his basket and remorselessly grabbed another pylon, slamming it onto a nearby section of the blanket. Upon realizing his former friend’s treachery, soO grabbed a bowl of roach stew and threw it at Classic before storming off into the distance.
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Numpad on TKL sdini Nov 20th, 2014 772 Never 772Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint Autohotkey 0.90 KB ;This function turns the special key cluster above the arrows into a 10key. ;This will be toggled with the option key to help migrate over from a full size key board. waffles := 0 ; waffles:=!waffles .... This assigns waffles to the value of NOT waffles. so lets say waffles starts out TRUE (1). you then turn waffles to NOT TRUE. which is FALSE (0). so now waffles is set to FALSE. and then lets say you toggle it again. you set waffles to NOT FALSE, which is TRUE. waffles is now set to TRUE. .... 1 is true, 0 is false. ! is NOT. AppsKey ::waffles := 1 ; If you stack hotkeys like this, they all trigger the same code underneath ~ Escape :: ~! Tab :: waffles := 0 return #if ( waffles = 1 ) PrintScreen :: 7 ScrollLock :: 8 Pause :: 9 Ins :: 4 Home :: 5 PgUp :: 6 Del :: 1 End :: 2 PgDn :: 3 SC11D:: 0 ; this is RCtrl but for my keyboard it registers as unknown. if yours registers a RCtrl use that instead. #if
RAW Paste Data
;This function turns the special key cluster above the arrows into a 10key. ;This will be toggled with the option key to help migrate over from a full size key board. waffles:=0 ; waffles:=!waffles .... This assigns waffles to the value of NOT waffles. so lets say waffles starts out TRUE (1). you then turn waffles to NOT TRUE. which is FALSE (0). so now waffles is set to FALSE. and then lets say you toggle it again. you set waffles to NOT FALSE, which is TRUE. waffles is now set to TRUE. .... 1 is true, 0 is false. ! is NOT. AppsKey::waffles:=1 ; If you stack hotkeys like this, they all trigger the same code underneath ~Escape:: ~!Tab:: waffles := 0 return #if (waffles=1) PrintScreen::7 ScrollLock::8 Pause:: 9 Ins::4 Home::5 PgUp::6 Del::1 End::2 PgDn::3 SC11D::0 ; this is RCtrl but for my keyboard it registers as unknown. if yours registers a RCtrl use that instead. #if
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I have to say these burgers go down in the annals of our 45 years or grilling burgers as the absolutely BEST burger I have ever EVER tasted, anywhere. The grass-fed beef gives them a vibrant, rich beefy flavor. Then the marinade mixture I blended into the meat took them to sheer hamburger Nirvana. To put that comment into perspective, I do not put condiments on my burgers: I only use lettuce and tomato on them, so the flavor of the meat REALLY comes through on my burgers. My husband, who puts EVERYTHING on a burger, said he couldn’t taste the marinate so much, only the smoke taste. Mustard can be a powerful thing (why I don’t like it). So hubby left the mustard off his second burger and then he agreed with me……. the taste of the meat was incredible. That would indicate this recipe will make incredible bunless grilled meat patties, perhaps wrapped in bacon, to serve with your favorite sides.
You can serve your burgers on your favorite low-carb buns. I served mine on my new Gluten-Free Grain-Free Hamburger Buns. They are neutral-tasting like high-carb white bread buns, soft, moist, yet sturdy enough to hold up to the juiciness of the meat and tomato. These burger patties are suitable for Atkins Induction Phase, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo if eaten either without a bun or a plan/phase suitable bun.
Many more delicious low-carb burger recipes can be yours in Jennifer Eloff’s latest, best-selling cookbook venture LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS. Click to see a preview of what’s in store for you in this 5-volume set. Jennifer and other low-carb chefs, including well-known George Stella, have brought you a marvelous collection of tasty delights. Order the set or order them individually in regular or coil binding at Amazon or direct.
DISCLAIMER: I am not paid for this book promotion or the inclusion of my recipes therein. I do so simply because they are a GREAT collection of recipes you are going to want to give a try.
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. grass-fed ground beef (I use 90% lean)
3 T. butter or ghee, melted (less if using fattier meat)
1 tsp. Sriracha chili sauce (more if you like ’em spicy!)
3/4 tsp. homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning (or your favorite burger seasoning)
¼ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. garlic powder
VARIATION: Use ground lamb instead of beef
DIRECTIONS: Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour over the ground beef or lamb in a medium mixing bowl. Mix well with a fork, cover. Marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours. When ready to cook the burgers, prepare a hot charcoal fire and grill the burgers as usual (about 7 minutes on a side for medium). The butter in the meat will make them flare up, so don’t walk away to fix that adult beverage while these babies cook. 🙂 Serve on your favorite low-carb buns along with your favorite condiments and side dishes.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes four 3½-oz. cooked patties, each contains (not including your bun):
297 calories
24.7 g fat
0.97 g carbs, 0.02 g fiber, 0.95 g NET CARBS (plus whatever bun you use)
20 g protein
247 mg sodium
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Need to see a doctor? You may have to wait.
A survey of physician practices in 15 metropolitan areas across the country, which was taken before the health law expanded coverage, found that the average wait time for a new patient to see a physician in five medical specialties was 18.5 days. The longest waits were in Boston, where patients wait an average of 72 days to see a dermatologist and 66 days to see a family doctor. The shortest were in Dallas, where the average wait time is 10.2 days for all specialties, and just five days to see a family doctor.
“We have too few providers, which is creating a significant access problem,” says Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins in Texas, which conducted the survey. The health care and physician search consulting firm spoke with 1,399 medical offices between June and November 2013 in five different areas of specialization: cardiology, dermatology, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedic surgery and family practice. Researchers called the practices and asked for the first available appointments for new patients needing routine care, such as a heart check-up or a well-woman visit.
The good news is that wait times actually decreased slightly, down from an average of 20.4 days when the survey was last conducted in 2009, and down from 20.9 days in 2004. Singleton attributes the slight improvement to practices employing more mid-level providers like nurse practitioners, better health-care IT to help with scheduling and an increase in the number of urgent care centers.
Even Boston, which has eye-popping wait times, has gotten better. The city’s average wait time dropped from 50 days in 2009 to 45 days in 2013. That’s brings it closer to its level of 39 days in 2004 before Massachusetts adopted its version of health care reform.
The bad news is that fewer doctors are accepting Medicaid: An average of 45.7 percent of physicians surveyed take Medicaid coverage, down from 55.4 percent in 2009. Acceptance rates varied widely, however, ranging from 73 percent in Boston to 23 percent in Dallas. An average of 76 percent of physicians surveyed accept Medicare.
The rates of Medicaid acceptance are likely to prove problematic as more and more Americans sign up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many physicians you have,” says Singleton. “If no one will take your insurance, you're going to end up in the same place, and that’s probably the ER.” And with more patients covered both by Medicaid and private insurance, he says, wait times are likely to get worse.
But Ken Hertz of the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, which consults with physician practices, says wait times don't always increase in proportion to patient volume. As plan deductibles and co-pays have gone up in recent years, patient volume in outpatient settings have actually declined, he says.
And long wait times can be attributed to many things other than patient volume, he adds, including operators not understanding the scheduling system. “Most practices are working diligently to see patients and see them in a timely manner, but there are a lot of moving parts,” he says.
“The successful practices will figure out new ways and approaches to shortening wait times. This isn’t going to be acceptable” in the long term, says Hertz.
This article was produced by Kaiser Health News with support from The SCAN Foundation. Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is not bothered by a lack of media recognition and only concerns himself with helping the club achieve success.
The holding midfielder, who joined from Southampton before the start of the season, described himself as someone willing to make sacrifices and let his more attack-minded team-mates take centre stage.
Schneiderlin has scored just one goal in 13 appearances for United but is not afraid of doing plenty of the dirty work for the team, breaking-up play, shielding the defence and giving the front line freedom to push forward.
Morgan Schneiderlin (right) arrives for a training session with France alongside Raphael Varane on Tuesday
Schneiderlin (left) chases down Jason Puncheon during United's match against Crystal Palace last month
'I'm a team player. I don't play to chase praise from anyone. Of course, you have to play as well as you can but I don't play to have good ratings in the paper or anything like that,' the 26-year-old told the club's website.
'I just play to win games and give my team the best possibilities.
'I think a lot of players are working very, very hard and a lot of players are getting praise around us because they score or they give assists in their position.
Schneiderlin (right), pictured here with France goalkeeper Benoit Costil, is currently on international duty
'But a lot of players are working hard, making some crucial challenges and doing some good things,' he added.
'Yet sometimes, of course, we are bit out of the spotlight, if I can say that. But for me, I don't care about being in the spotlight.'
The club announced that Antonio Valencia had undergone surgery on his foot after picking up an injury in the Manchester derby on October 25. No timescale has been set for his return.
'Thank God, (I) came out well from the operation. Now (I) think about my recovery,' tweeted the 30-year-old, who has made 10 appearances this season.
United are fourth in the table two points adrift of leaders Manchester City and take on Watford on November 21 when the league resumes after the international break.
Antonio Valencia gives the thumbs up from his hospital bed after undergoing an operation on his foot
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Mitchell: ‘Gang-related’ classification for gun deaths a cop-out
Chicago Police investigate a homicide scene early Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, in the 1300 block of North Hudson. Chicago Police investigate a homicide early Sunday in the 1300 block of North Hudson. Twin 17-year-olds Edwin and Edward Bryant were standing outside about 3:15 a.m. in the 1300 block of North Hudson when a dark-color vehicle drove by and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police. | Network Video Productions
Is it time to stop classifying shootings as “gang-related?”
Frankly, I hadn’t given the issue much thought until I read Gary Younge’s insightful book, “Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives.”
Younge, who traveled the country chronicling the lives of young people killed by guns in America on a single day in 2013, argues the term “gang-related” is “most often used not to describe, but to dismiss” these deaths.
He’s absolutely right.
We’ve become obsessed with finding something other than the proliferation of guns on our streets to blame for these untimely deaths.
Gangs have always been in America. What there hasn’t always been is the ease with which young people can get their hands on guns.
OPINION
Last weekend, as the Chicago Cubs gave the city something to cheer about, 17 people — four of them between 14 and 17 — were killed by gunfire.
It is not surprising that some people blamed the spike in fatal shootings on Police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s decision to saturate the areas around Wrigley Field with a thick police presence.
Johnson’s policing strategy made sense. Obviously a celebration fueled by “fandemonium” and liquor could easily get out of control.
But because the death toll rose in neighborhoods elsewhere, people could point to Johnson’s policing strategy — rather than to guns — as the culprit.
“We had adequate resources there. We had canceled days off, as well as 12-hour shifts the entire weekend,” he told the press on Monday.
The same can be said about the term “gang-related.”
Calling a fatal shooting “gang-related” suggests that the victim somehow deserved to be gunned down and nothing could be done.
For instance, 17-year-old fraternal twins Edwin and Edward Bryant were killed last weekend. They were fatally shot in a drive-by shooting early Sunday morning in Old Town.
The teens were shot multiple times and pronounced dead one hour apart. On Wednesday, the teens’ mother was still unable to speak publicly about this tragedy.
Both teens were juniors at Marshall High School, where Edward Bryant played for Marshall’s team and also on the Chicago Demons traveling team, a youth basketball program in Old Town.
The first questions people ask when teens are killed under these circumstances is why were they on the street at 3:15 a.m. — and if the shooting was gang-related?
Obviously, there’s no good reason for 17-year-olds to be out at that time of the morning. But a lot of us made similarly reckless choices in our youth and weren’t gunned down.
Additionally, there are fewer safe spaces left in the city.
You could be sitting in a car, walking down the street, lounging on a porch, riding public transportation or driving on an expressway and someone could start firing a gun.
Unfortunately, gun offenders have a lot of confidence that they aren’t going to get caught, and for a good reason: Less than a third of the shootings are solved.
The day before the twins were gunned down, 14-year-old DeMarco Webster Jr. was in the 500 block of North Central helping his father load a van at 1:45 a.m. when someone drove by and fatally shot the teen.
Webster lived next door to the Bryant twins. Police don’t believe Webster was involved in a gang. Yet the 14-year-old is dead.
Police said the twins weren’t documented gang members, although individuals who were with them were affiliated with a gang. Yet these 17-year-old boys are also dead.
Young people are dying on our streets because too many legislators will not take a stand against the powerful gun lobby.
Gang activity is undesirable, but it is not killing young people.
The easy access to lethal weapons is.
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Front page photo by Dan Monick
Kyle Thomas released his great self-titled King Tuff album back in 2012, and in 2013, he reissued his excellent debut Was Dead. This year, he's at it again. Black Moon Spell is out September 22 in Europe and September 23 in North America via Sub Pop. Check out album cut "Eyes of the Muse" below.
The album was produced by Bobby Harlow and features King Tuff's bandmates Magic Jake and Old Gary. Ty Segall also drummed on the album's title track. If you pre-order it via Sub Pop's store, you'll get the limited “Loser Edition” that's pressed on glow-in-the-dark/black splatter vinyl.
Catch Thomas and the band on tour—find the dates below "Eyes of the Muse" and the album's tracklist.
Black Moon Spell:
01 Black Moon Spell
02 Sick Mind
03 Rainbow's Run
04 Headbanger
05 Beautiful Thing
06 I Love You Ugly
07 Magic Mirror
08 Madness
09 Demon From Hell
10 Black Holes in Stereo
11 Radiation
12 Eyes of the Muse
13 Staircase of Diamonds
14 Eddie's Song
King Tuff:
09-25 San Diego, CA - Irenic
09-26 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
09-27 Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole
09-29 Dallas, TX - Club Dada
09-30 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s
10-01 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
10-02 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
10-03 Raleigh, NC - Kings Barricade
10-04 Washington, DC - Black Cat
10-07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10-08 Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right
10-09 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-10 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
10-11 Easthampton, MA - Flywheel
10-12 Montreal, Quebec - Il Motore
10-14 Toronto, Ontario - Horeshoe Tavern
10-15 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick Lounge
10-16 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
10-17 Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
10-18 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
10-20 Missoula, MT - Stage 112
10-22 Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
10-23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Fortune Sound Club
10-25 Portland, OR - Lola’s
10-28 Sacramento, CA - Witch Room
10-29 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-06 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
11-08 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
Watch King Tuff's Pitchfork.tv "Safe for Work" session:
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The brain is amazingly complex, with around 86 billion nerve cells. The challenge for researchers to create bench-top brain tissue from which they can learn about how the brain functions, is an extremely difficult one.
Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) have taken a step closer to meeting this challenge, by developing a 3D printed layered structure incorporating neural cells, that mimics the structure of brain tissue.
The value of bench-top brain tissue is huge. Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars testing therapeutic drugs on animals, only to discover in human trials that the drug has an altogether different level of effectiveness. We're not sure why, but the human brain differs distinctly from that of an animal.
A bench-top brain that accurately reflects actual brain tissue would be significant for researching not only the effect of drugs, but brain disorders like schizophrenia, and degenerative brain disease.
ACES Director and research author Professor Gordon Wallace said that the breakthrough is significant progress in the quest to create a bench-top brain that will enable important insights into brain function, in addition to providing an experimental test bed for new drugs and electroceuticals.
"We are still a long way from printing a brain but the ability to arrange cells so as they form neuronal networks is a significant step forward," Professor Wallace said.
To create their six-layered structure, researchers developed a custom bio-ink containing naturally occurring carbohydrate materials. The custom materials have properties that allow accurate cell dispersion throughout the structure, whilst providing a rare level of protection to the cells.
The bio-ink is then optimised for 3D-printing, and developed for use in a standard cell culturing facility without the need for expensive bio-printing equipment.
The result is a layered structure like brain tissue, in which cells are accurately placed and remain in their designated layer.
"This study highlights the importance of integrating advances in 3D printing, with those in materials science, to realise a biological outcome," Professor Wallace said.
"This paves the way for the use of more sophisticated printers to create structures with much finer resolution."
The research, funded through Professor Gordon Wallace's Australian Laureate Fellowship, is published in Biomaterials journal.
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Following his recent domestic dispute with Paige at the Orlando International Airport this past Sunday, GFW announced that they have suspended GFW World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron.
Below is their full statement:
Global Force Wrestling has indefinitely suspended Alberto El Patron, effective immediately, until the investigation is resolved following a recent incident in Orlando, Florida.
As noted, Jeff Jarrett will be participating in a media conference call, which we will be a part of. We will have more updates soon.
To provide a clear timeline of events, El Patron was detained by police at the Orlando International Airport last Sunday. The Orlando Police department issued a statement that said the reigning GFW World Heavyweight Champion was detained at about 3 p.m. Sunday following a domestic battery incident. He later missed a scheduled independent booking in Texas on Sunday night.
TMZ reported Patron allegedly roughed up a female companion but did not mention his girlfriend Paige by name. In response, Paige tweeted this:
"WE got the cops involved. I'm crying cuz I found out bad fam news & a lady tries take a pic. She gets angry throws a drink on @PrideOfMexico," tweeted Paige. "Please leave us alone. That's it."
We learned Paige's uncle Stanley is currently hospizatized through another tweet, with her suggesting this is what she was upset about at the airport on Sunday.
TMZ obtained audio from the incident where Alberto is heard telling someone, possibly Paige, to "call the cops." Paige is heard crying and yelling, "Just stay out of my life. Leave me the f-ck alone. I'm trying to get away from you!"
A witness claimed El Patron and Paige were arguing and Patron told Paige he was pressing charges against her. A witness told Heavy.com that the couple were aruging on the airport tram system, with Paige screaming at El Patron that he had been doing cocaine for "two days straight" and she called him abusive. There were also claims El Patron smelled like he had been drinking alcohol.
Paige's brother, Zak Bevis, stated on Facebook that he was very worried about his sister. He also accused Alberto of domestic battery, writing, "I've got too say I'm very worried about my sister," he continued (sic). "Please keep a eye on her, she had one Prick Known as brad Maddox who took advantage of an 18 year old girl. Physically and mentally abused her. And now she's with a control freak who think he's a tough guy cause he's beats my sister and has money too cover his tracks.."
Paige's half-brother, Roy, also expressed concern over Paige's well-being. He alleged his family has photos of beatings that Paige has suffered at the hands of Alberto El Patron over the past six months. He also stated his sister won't be returning to WWE because El Patron will not allow her to do so.
Paige's father, Ricky Knight, has promised he won't keep quiet on the situation forever, posting a new update on Wednesday.
"Want to thankyou everyone literally hundreds of you for your support over my daughter Paige," Knight wrote on Facebook. "Its truly humbling believe it will get sorted but right now I have to get back to helping my besty fight his biggest challenge once again thanks to you all."
Charles Maynard and Shane Bridges contributed to this article.
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If you had told me a year ago that I would become a nudist/naturist, I might have asked you if your crystal ball needed a tuneup. Funny the curveballs life tosses our way, yes?
But as it turned out, this was my coming-out year as a nudist/naturist. It all started when a friend casually mentioned late last winter that there is a nice beach near her house with a “nudist” section — which turned out to be more of an unofficial but accepted clothing-optional section.
As regular readers know, I started exploring the nudism/naturism subject and writing about it in both my Gazette blog and this blog. It was/is a popular subject with readers. I’ve received a fair bit of feedback from naturists around the world, and I thank them — you, my readers — for all the direction and help you gave/give me so that I could address the subject with the respect it deserves. One of the things I discovered early in the process is that nudists/naturists face a lot of discrimination, and that there aren’t a lot of public spaces open to them — or I should say, open to us — in most countries.
I received an invitation in the spring to attend a social nudism event — a swim — with the Ottawa Naturists. I wasn’t shy in the least! I’ve since gone on to join the Ottawa Naturists, and made a good personal friend in the process: Ted, the president of the organization.
Indeed, Nudism/Naturism has brought many new acquaintances into my life, and I know that more of them will grow into real-time friendships in Quebec and Ontario — and if I ever get to places like South Carolina and Hawaii, friendships there, as well. It also brought a nude modeling experience my way — again, I wasn’t shy in the least!
I could go on and on about my thoughts and experiences, but I have already done that in several posts. It’s your turn now. How was your year in social nudism/naturism? Did you see it as a year of progress for the naturism community? Please share your thoughts about nudism/naturism in 2013.
Jillian
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One woman is lucky to have her diamond engagement ring back on her finger after it was missing for two days in Lake Michigan.
Jamie Kennedy was having a delightful beach day in South Haven, Michigan, with her two young boys and close friend when the fateful moment happened. Her ring was lost but found 48 hours later thanks to a complete stranger with a helpful hobby.
“I had reached down to get sand off my leg in the water, in about chest-deep water,” Kennedy, of Decatur, Michigan, told ABC News. “When I got the sand off my legs, it was in between in my fingers and in my ring. I pushed up with my thumb to get it out and I must’ve pushed up hard and I lost it.”
Kennedy suspects her fingers had shrunk in the chilly water.
“I tried to catch it while it was falling,” she added. “I told my friend and we both started looking immediately with our feet and hands. Our 10-year-old boys had goggles and we searched and searched and searched for about 45 minutes.”
The waves were pretty large that day so their efforts turned up empty. Disappointed, they left the beach without the 1.3-carat ring. Kennedy took to social media as soon as she got home in a last-ditch effort for help.
“Feeling beyond sad, sick, and disappointed that I lost my wedding ring IN Lake Michigan today,” she wrote on the Facebook post which garnered nearly 2,500 shares. “I don't usually believe in miracles but if anyone sees any posts on Facebook or hears anything about found rings in South Haven let me know.”
It didn’t take long before her post was shared with John Dudley, the president of the West Michigan Detector Club, who immediately reached out to Kennedy with his expertise.
“She lost it on a Friday and I didn’t go out until Sunday. It was 2 days later, which makes it even more bizarre,” Dudley said of the successful search. “The waves were terrible. I’m a pretty good-sized guy and the waves were knocking me over. But 30 to 45 minutes later I got a good signal in the water about waist deep. I scooped up whatever the signal was and there was a ring in the bottom. I went, ‘Oh my gosh.’
“When I turned the ring over I knew it was hers because she had shown me a few pictures,” he added. “I gave a thumbs up to her and she just came running out to the water. I gave her ring back and she just started bawling and gave me a great big hug.”
Kennedy couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I seriously think my heart skipped a beat,” she recalled. “I jumped up and ran out there. When he first gave me a thumbs up I thought maybe had detected something, and then after he held my ring up I just ran. He said I practically walked on water to get out to him. I instantly I started bawling of course.”
Not only was it an incredible day for Kennedy, who said she does believe in miracles now, but it was also quite an accomplishment for Dudley, as well.
“It was pretty huge actually,” he said. “You find things, coins, and you find jewelry on occasion in the water. You find lots of pieces of miscellaneous garbage, but when you know something is there and you can find it and return it, it’s like bowling a 300 game. I think this is the best by far.”
“When I put it on Facebook I said, ‘I don’t usually believe in miracles,’ and now I know there’s always hope,” a grateful Kennedy added. “Miracles can happen and there’s still nice people in the world. It’s just amazing to know there’s so many good people still out there.”
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A firefighter inspects the site of a fire at Lotte Mart inside the second Lotte World in southern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
By Lee Kyung-min
A fire was put out minutes after it broke out at a branch of Lotte Mart located inside the second Lotte Tower in southern Seoul, early Monday, company officials said.
This was the latest of a series of safety-related incidents at the 123-story skyscraper since its partial opening in October 2014.
No casualties were reported during the fire, but some 70 people watching movies at the time in the same building had to be immediately evacuated, officials added.
"The fire was extinguished before it became bigger. Fortunately no one was hurt, and not much financial damage was incurred," a company official said.
An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the fire. Company officials suspect that it was caused by an overheated refrigerator in the grocery section in the second basement of the discount retail chain.
Firefighters and company safety authorities arrived at the scene immediately after the smoke detector alarm went off.
Upon being reported, police and firefighters from Songpa Fire Station conducted an on-site inspection to determine if any safety lapses contributed to the incident.
All refrigerators are being inspected, officials added.
"We are sorry for the incident. We will try our best to ensure the safety of the visitors by preventing such incidents from recurring," said a company official.
However, few are inclined to believe the company's hollow apology because it has failed to implement proper measures to fix problems amid repeated "accidents" since October 2014.
Monday's fire occurred only a month after two construction workers sustained burns to their faces and limbs while working on the eighth floor of the complex on May 15, three days after the reopening of the complex.
At the time, operations of the tower's aquarium and movie theaters had barely resumed after being slapped with a five-month suspension by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) over leaks from the water tank and shaking from an unidentified source in the theaters there.
Earlier, two customers were hit in the basement mall by a two-meter glass door that came off its hinges.
In February, Lotte launched a safety management committee vowing to make safety its top priority, but many have cast doubts on the efficacy of the move so far.
A Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) official said that the incident is regrettable, especially following the warning the city government gave to the firm and the subsequent shut down.
"We urge the company to pay far more attention to safety management. It is still recovering from a loss of public trust due to the past incidents," a city official said.
Construction of the skyscraper is scheduled to be completed next year.
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Video
The US city of New Orleans saw its population decline by almost a third in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But the population - like the city's fortunes - has been revived in the years since the flooding, partly because of the Big Easy's culture and charm but also thanks to a series of economic incentives.
New Orleans earned the nickname "Hollywood South" by attracting filmmakers to Louisiana, and now entrepreneurs have dubbed the region the "Silicon Bayou" because of the growth in the number of tech start-ups.
The BBC visited the steeped-in-tradition city to see how technology is making an impact.
Produced for the BBC by Leigh Paterson
Altered States is a series of video features published every Wednesday on the BBC News website which examine how shifting demographics and economic conditions affect America on a local level.
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Image copyright AFP Image caption Mexican troops have been guarding the location where the bodies were found
Investigators in Mexico are working to identify 28 bodies retrieved from a grave near the southern town of Iguala.
The grave is located in an area where 43 protesting students went missing after clashing with police last month.
Inaky Blanco, the chief prosecutor of Guerrero state, said identification could take two weeks.
The students disappeared after taking part in a protest over teachers' rights. Police opened fire on their buses, killing six people.
Witnesses said that most of the survivors - all trainee teachers - were bundled into police vans.
Some had gone into hiding and contacted their relatives after several days, still fearing for their lives.
Twenty-two police officers are being held in connection with the 27 September shooting.
Mr Blanco said one of those detained had admitted that 17 students had been shot dead at the site where the bodies were found. But he stressed that investigators had not confirmed the suspect's story.
'Anonymous tip'
The students had been taking part in a protest over job discrimination against rural teachers.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mexican students have been blocking roads, demanding a thorough investigation into the disappearance of their peers
Image copyright AFP Image caption The government has offered a reward of $75,000 (£47,000) for information leading to the students' location
Iguala lies about 120 miles (200km) south of the capital Mexico City. The grave was discovered on Saturday, following an anonymous tip, local media reported.
State prosecutors said local officials and police officers could have links with criminal gangs operating in Guerrero state.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Albarca, and his security chief who are both considered fugitives from justice and may be involved in the violence.
Mexico correspondent Will Grant says the incident has highlighted the extent of the collusion between criminal groups and officials in much of the country.
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The prince says time is running out and warns business leaders must address chasm between principles at home and at work
Prince Charles has launched a blistering attack on companies that are actively seeking to delay progress on preventing runaway climate change. Highlighting the need for a radical shift in the way the economy is run, he said that over the past decade he has been met by either indifference from mainstream business leaders and economists, or outright opposition.
Pointing out that science had proved beyond doubt the terrifying impacts of inaction, he called on executives to collapse the chasm between how they acted at home and what they were prepared to do in the office.
“We need to start integrating the business public self with the private family self,” he told a meeting of the Corporate Leaders Group. “So that when you go home in the evenings, perhaps you think a little bit about what you are doing and whether it is the right way to go.”
Tougher government attitudes on climate change key to business action Read more
A decade ago, the prince said few businesses were contemplating the transformative changes required to achieve sustainability, with the majority “actively delaying progress by equating environmental action with damage to their balance sheets.”
In the more than 100 meetings and seminars he has attended since then, the prince said he had “experienced every sort of reaction to the suggestions from myself and many others that time is running out. The negative reactions have ranged from polite indifference to the pronouncement by an economist – who else - that I was ‘the enemy of the enlightenment’.”
Saying that humanity is now in a battle about how we survive as a species, he called on executives to join forces with NGOs to put pressure on political leaders to be more courageous ahead of the Paris climate change talks in December. In particular, he welcomed the decision of the Corporate Leaders Group, which he founded a decade ago, to join forces with other business coalitions, such as We Mean Business, to bring more pressure to bear.
“Forward-thinking businesses are ever more determined that they are going to be a part of the solution to climate change, and they are acting to show that this is true,” the prince said.
“So in the last ten years significant progress has been made and the consensus to strengthen climate action is broader and stronger than ever before. But is that consensus broad enough and strong enough?”
Let's face it: we have to choose between our economy and our future Read more
Speaking of the need to divert finances away from fossil fuels to a low carbon economy, the prince highlighted the importance of the insurance sector, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.
“Once they are fully engaged – and it seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time to get to that point – they have the vision, the skills and the capacity to drive real change,” he said.
The transition to a low carbon economy will, he added, require a complete transformation of our relationship with energy, and action is required on the distorting impact of the subsidies received by the fossil fuel industry.
He also urged for an acceleration in the implementation of a circular economy model in order to ensure a greater emphasis on resource efficiency, saying that the world needed to move “from the take, make and dispose approach adopted in a linear economic model to the make, use and recover of the circular economies. This whole process of transition will have to be undertaken with great care and sensitivity to manage the impact of changes on jobs and local economies.”
Challenging those who argue changes in the economic model would cost a fortune, he said he had been told that well over half of the emissions savings required over the next 15 years to keep warming below 2C would create economic benefits that exceed their costs.
The prince complained about the negative impacts of siloed thinking that separated environmental issues from development goals and pointed to numerous examples of how these issues are interconnected.
In particular he referred to deforestation in the Amazon being almost certainly the prime cause of a desperate drought in Sao Paolo and how the survival of coastal communities in Africa and Asia is threatened by industrial-scale fishing.
“There are many, many more examples of just how desperate these inextricably linked social and environmental problems have become,” he said. “Even in a world full of daunting perils and crises, it is hard to imagine greater challenges for humanity.”
The leadership hub is funded by Xyntéo. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘brought to you by’. Find out more here.
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Image copyright Other Image caption Roger Bird and Natasha Bolter
The general secretary of UKIP has denied a claim that he sexually harassed a newly-recruited candidate.
Roger Bird has been suspended from his post on full pay over what the party called "allegations of impropriety".
Natasha Bolter, 35, who used to campaign for the Labour Party, has told the Times Mr Bird propositioned her over dinner on the day he interviewed her as a prospective candidate.
She denies claims by Mr Bird they had a sexual relationship.
As a Labour activist who had switched to Nigel Farage's party, Ms Bolter, a teacher, was greeted by cheers and applause when she addressed UKIP's conference in Doncaster in September.
She was introduced to party members by Mr Bird, a former Tory councillor who joined UKIP in 2009
He had interviewed her earlier that month as she sought to become an approved UKIP candidate for next May's general election.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bird said they had a sexual relationship. But in her comments to the Times, Ms Bolter denies this.
Mr Bird told the BBC: "We were in a relationship briefly, but that relationship developed well after she had been admitted to the approved candidates list, so her selection was not connected to that."
A UKIP spokesman confirmed that an investigation had been launched.
On Monday, the party said it had acted "swiftly and decisively" as soon as it became aware of the allegations.
But it declined to discuss the nature of the claims, saying it was an "internal party matter".
A statement on its website said: "Unfortunately, UKIP has had to suspend Mr Bird pending a full investigation into allegations made against him.
"The party has acted swiftly and decisively and will not tolerate impropriety of any kind amongst its staff."
It is understood that an internal party disciplinary committee will decide what to do about the claims before Christmas.
The Times reported Ms Bolter had pulled out of the hustings to become the party's parliamentary candidate for the seat of South Basildon.
Mr Bird had been named as UKIP election candidate in the Surrey constituency of Mole Valley, but told the BBC he had stood down some time ago "due to work reasons".
He was recently named as the parliamentary candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster seat, a party source told BBC political correspondent Chris Mason.
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So to start off...THIS IS NOT MY ART!!!This belongs to and is posted here with his permission.As you can see by looking at my vector this is not what I had originally set down for my OC. This is, however, much closer to what I had in my head for her than what is in the vector so I may go with this color set for her.I also had her as having heterochromia and in this she is blind in the one eye. That is a design change I decided on recently that will be implemented into the vector I am working on and any and all future iterations of her.I really like how this turned out and want to thank for putting up with my requests and just being an awesome dude. Go show him some love!
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Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE on Sunday referred to Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election as a "cyber 9/11."
“I think there a lot more connections that have yet to come to light,” Clinton said Sunday evening in London, according to BuzzFeed News.
The former Democratic nominee said if she had been elected president, she would have called for an independent commission to "get to the bottom of it."
“We had really well-respected security, intelligence veterans saying this was a cyber 9/11, in the sense it was a direct attack on our institutions,” she said.
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“That may sound dramatic, but we know that they probed and tried to intrude into election systems — not just the social media propaganda part of their campaign.”
Clinton warned that the Russians are "not done."
"This is an ongoing threat," she said.
Clinton made similar comments during an interview that aired Sunday, cautioning that the U.S. should "keep an eye" on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin wants to destabilize democracies in Europe and the U.S. and undermine NATO and the European Union, she said.
"He believes that that will then give Russia a real chance to be dominant, certainly in Europe and certainly along its borders," she said.
"And that the United States, which he views as his primary adversary, will be weakened."
She said she thinks Putin was successful in his efforts to meddle in the presidential race, adding that he wants to divide America from within.
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Over the last five years, the EU made progress towards almost all of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG). Progress in some goals has been faster than in others, and within goals, movement away from the sustainable development objectives also occurred in specific areas.
The figure below shows a statistical summary of EU progress towards the 17 SDGs over this period.
EU progress over the past five-year period appears to have been strongest towards SDG 3 ‘good health and well-being’, followed by SDG 4 ‘quality education’ and SDG 7 ‘affordable and clean energy’.
The EU also made progress towards SDG 11 ‘sustainable cities and communities’, SDG 12 ‘responsible consumption and production’, SDG 5 ‘gender equality’, SDG 8 ‘decent work and economic growth’, SDG 17 ‘partnership for the goals’, SDG 1 ‘no poverty’, and, to a minor extent, SDG 15 ‘life on land’ and SDG 2 ‘zero hunger’. SDG 9 ‘industry, innovation and infrastructure’ is characterized by an equal number of positive and negative developments of the indicators.
It should be noted that progress towards a given goal does not necessarily mean that the status of that goal is satisfactory for the EU. For example, in the case of SDG 15, which focuses on terrestrial ecosystems, the indicators chosen mostly show good progress, but this should not lead to the conclusion that ecosystems or biodiversity in the EU are in good health. In the case of SDG 2, emphasis was put on environmental indicators, as there are no major concerns on food security.
Based on the selected indicators, the EU appears to have moved away from the sustainable development objectives for SDG 10 ‘reduced inequalities’ over the past five years. This is due to the continued rise of income inequalities within EU Member States, a development that is not specific for the past five years but that has already been visible since 2005.
In the case of four goals – SDG 6 ‘clean water and sanitation’, SDG 13 ‘climate action’, SDG 14 ‘life below water’ and SDG 16 ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’ – trends cannot be calculated due to insufficient comparable data over the past five years; or a trend calculation is not applicable.
For more detailed information on the methodology or the progress of each individual goal, please see the 'Monitoring report'.
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By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Pennsylvania Medical Society has joined the ranks of physician and scientist groups calling gun violence a public health problem.
The declaration came out of the Society’s annual meeting over the weekend.
Medical Society president Dr. Bruce MacLeod says gun violence should be studied the same way doctors study diabetes and heart disease.
“We really need to understand what we can do to mitigate it,” he said. “Is it the users? Is it the guns? Can you engineer guns to be safer? All of these are questions that should be studied.”
MacLeod says the Society hopes the CDC will begin funding research soon.
National Rifle Association (NRA) backed legislation has forbidden federally funded gun research since 1996.
After the massacre of school children in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama issued an executive order lifting the ban, but no new projects have been announced.
McLeod says the lack of research makes it difficult to develop a prevention plan:
“We want to get data so we can understand it, because that’s the best way you can make the right decision.”
The Society represents 20,000 physicians and medical students statewide.
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Why work for Claromentis?
We’re a well-established software development company with a passion for delighting customers, building beautiful intranets and expanding our platform with innovative functionality. Our core values are consistently focused on clarity of communication, culture, quality, innovation, and nurturing talent.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
The foundation of Claromentis is our staff. We believe that supporting what is unique about individuals and drawing on their different perspectives and experiences defines the way we run our business, our company culture, and our staff wellbeing. We constantly strive to create a productive environment, representative of and responsive to different cultures and groups, where everyone has an equal chance to succeed.
Our core focus is on nurturing talent and helping people to develop professionally and personally, irrespective of gender, trans-gender status, marital status, civil partnership status, pregnancy, race, disability, age, political or religious belief, or sexuality.
We regularly host CodeBar workshops, a nationwide initiative that enables underrepresented groups to learn how to code, enhance their skills, and expand their career opportunities.
Benefits and perks
Competitive salary Be a part of our award-winning culture Yearly training budget Flexible and remote working Regular company lunches and social events Pension Friday Happy Hour Discounted gym membership Cycle to Work Scheme
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A month ago Zero Hedge dubbed Gramm-Leach-Bliley the worst Bill ever passed. Its passage, coupled with a bunch of insane money printing leprechauns, presaged the ultimate collapse of Lehman, and was the main reason why capitalism nearly died last year (and why contrary to all you hear, is still in critical care). Yet from mere grumblings a month ago, the chorus of voices calling for a repeal of G-L-B, and a renewal of Glass-Steagall has reached a crescendo, and today Majority leader Steny Hoyer said that the renewal of the Glass-Steagall act was a distinct possibility.
The U.S. House is considering reinstituting the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which barred bank holding companies from owning other financial companies, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today.
A renewal of the 1933 law “is certainly under discussion” by House members, Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters in Washington. The Glass-Steagall law was repealed in 1999.
Hoyer made the comments when asked whether Congress and the Obama administration could do more to persuade banks to make more business loans to get credit flowing into the economy.
“As someone who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, maybe that was a mistake,” Hoyer told reporters.
The repeal removed a regulatory obstacle to the $46.4 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group Inc. to form Citigroup Inc.
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Center for Inquiry encourages student groups to hold events that show their support for free speech as well as awareness and criticism of blasphemy laws. International Blasphemy Rights Day is September 30th. Here are a few ideas for events that you can hold or participate in.
Blasphemy Night
Comedy shows have become a fun and inexpensive way to celebrate free speech. Most college campuses have improv and comedy groups that are happy to perform at student events. Ask around and see if you can find comedians who support free speech and the right to blaspheme (they are usually very big supporters of being able to speak freely because comedy is a social commentary that is often funniest when it is both outrageous and true). Check the Center for Inquiry Speaker’s Bureau or email Dren Asselmeier if you would like help booking a comedian.
Draw Muhammad and Friends Day
Many students are aware of the fact that people who follow the religion of Islam do not allow for any physical depiction of Muhammad. Illustrators and artists who have done so in the past have suffered violence and threats of violence at the hands of people who were offended by these drawings. Luckily, those of us who live in the United States can draw whatever we damned well please, and drawing religious figures has become a way for students to band together and let their communities know that religious criticism is not off limits. You don’t have to say anything offensive; this isn’t about trying to offend people so much as it is about saying that speech can’t be stifled just because someone says that what you say is offensive. Chances are you won’t get your school newspaper to print your cartoons (it’s worth a shot), but have an art contest, do some chalking, or publish your own posters that sport the very best drawings. You don’t have to limit your drawings to just one deity. All higher powers deserve a caricature now and then! Get out your crayons and allow yourselves to be touched by his noodly appendages! Make sure you send your art to CFI On Campus and Dren will see if she can get them published or posted on the website. Heck, we may even hang them on the refrigerator.
Have My Megaphone
Does your school have a free speech zone? That sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? But by making a free speech zone, your school may be disallowing free speech on other parts of the campus. Some students challenge this idea in order to make their whole campus a place where students can speak freely without fear, but for now, go ahead and reserve that free speech zone for a high-traffic time near or on International Blasphemy Rights Day (September 30th). Find a place where you can buy or borrow a megaphone (you may have to do some searching, but they exist), make some posters, and get on your soapbox to say whatever you want. Encourage passing students to take a second and let out whatever they’d like to say. They can even tell you how stupid and annoying you are for having a megaphone! That’s what’s great about it! I had an Irish woman yell at my student group once because she said there is no such thing as free speech. Take the megaphone, lady! Set up a table to give out merch if you’d like, and make sure to print off fliers that explain what you’re doing so that passing students can take one and read about the reason we recognize International Blasphemy Rights Day.
Click here to like the Facebook page and get updates about “sacri-licious” events near you. Visit our Campaign for Free Expression resources page to get more ideas and help organizing. Do you have any other ideas? Need more help? Want to send us your drawing of Vishnu giving jump-high-fives? Send us an email and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Read more about the history of IBRD here and here.
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(Updated on 1/19/2015 to provide more detail, based on feedback from Bill Benac).
In Peggy Fletcher Stack’s January 16th, 2015 article entitled “Did Mormon podcaster go too far? Dehlin faces possible excommunication,” she attributes the following opinion to Mormon apologist, blogger, and attorney Steve Evans,
“Evans questions whether Dehlin’s support of gay marriage and Ordain Women was the main reason for the move against the podcaster.”
In the letter I received on August 7, 2014 from Dr. Bryan King, it lists as #3 on his list of conditions for continued membership:
“Stop promoting groups or organizations that espouse doctrines contrary to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
In our August 7th meeting with Bryan King, I asked Bryan to clarify specifically which groups or organizations were problematic. In that interview (with my wife, Margi, present), he explicitly mentioned both Ordain Women, and my public support of same-sex marriage as being problematic. In the context of discussing “problematic groups,” when asked directly if my public support of same-sex marriage was a problem, he answered, “Yes.”
I have tried my best to be 100% open/honest about what I understand to be the reasons/causes for the disciplinary council, based on my discussions with Bishop Brian Hunt and Bryan King. In my press release, I stated the following as my understanding of the main reasons:
My 10-year effort with Mormon Stories podcast (http://mormonstories.wpengine.com), wherein difficult historical and cultural issues are discussed in an interview format
My public support of same-sex marriage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MxCXjfAunk)
My public support of the Ordain Women movement (http://ordainwomen.org/project/hi-im-john/)
My publicly expressed doubts regarding key elements of orthodox LDS theology (http://mormonstories.wpengine.com/questions-and-answers/ )
My publicly expressed criticism of the church’s approach to LGBT members, feminists, intellectuals, as well as its lack of transparency regarding finances
Even though the media have chosen to focus on SSM and OW in many of their stories, I don’t believe that I have ever claimed that SSM and/or OW were the only causes for the disciplinary council, or even necessarily the main causes (if I have done so, I’m more than willing to apologize/clarify).
And while it is impossible for anyone to accurately weigh the various factors that contributed to the decision to hold a disciplinary council, I believe that it is very accurate to say that my support for same-sex marriage and Ordain Women was a main factor, and/or a significant factor in the decision (#3 of 4 specifically listed by Bryan King in his August 7th letter to me).
Whether or not any specific item is the “main reason” is purely a matter of speculation, in my opinion.
For a more complete review of the history and my positions on the disciplinary council, see here.
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photo: Heather Thorkelson via flickr
In an event that the US Geological Survey is saying is "directly related to the lack of sea ice" in the Chukchi Sea, tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in northwest Alaska. The AP quotes USGS biologist Anthony Fischbach as saying they "stretch out for one mile or more. This is just packed shoulder to shoulder."
The good news in this is that Fischbach says there should be enough food for them all, even though he doesn't know how the walruses will remain ashore.
Though not normal historically--walrus females normally rest on sea ice while raising their young--walruses have come ashore en masse in 2007 and 2009.
For a really good overview of the conditions of melting ice in the Arctic, and how summer sea ice is decreasing in both extent and volume, check out this video (via Climate Progress):
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Joe Jackson 'Look Sharp', reward 5
This hardback book is a complete retrospective of the music photography of Brian Griffin. Over 350 pages featuring bands and musicians from the Post Punk, New Wave and New Romantic movements in music, this book is a slice of time, an intensive document primarily of the late 70's and 80's. Over 160 record covers from well over a 100 bands and musicians, Including many Images that have never been seen before, of some major stars like Ian Dury, The Clash, Depeche Mode, Echo And The Bunnymen, Iggy Pop, Kate Bush, The Specials, Elvis Costello and many more.
Depeche Mode 'Broken Frame', reward 7
Page after page is featured a Q & A between Brian Griffin and the author Terry Rawlings that is insightful, illuminating and at times hilarious. A true window into the period and a must for anyone interested in music and photography. On low budgets and before the advent of Photoshop and digital photography is explained how these photographs were executed and the techniques employed, and at times in fact invented.
Siouxsie And The Banshees 'Dazzle', reward 6
Another section of the book contains portraits of important figures in the music industry like the Beatles producer George Martin, Brian Eno and Daniel Miller, plus many others. Additionally we have portraits of the people that worked alongside Brian like stylists and builders of his light machines.
Iggy Pop 'Soldier'
There is an essay by Paul Gorman, the author of 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' the life and work of Barney Bubbles that treats in detail the close friendship and working relationship between Barney and Brian and the covers that they collaborated on.
Terry Rawlings also gives a vivid and entertaining description of what the area of Rotherhithe in South East London was like in the 80's, where most of these musicians would come to be photographed at Brian's studio at 121/123 Rotherhithe Street, London.
No stone has been left unturned to make this beautiful and extensive book the definitive record of Brian Griffin's photography and his life as a music photographer.
Elvis Costello 'Armed Forces'
Echo and the Bunnymen 'Heaven Up Here'
Kate Bush
Albums signed By Depeche Mode, reward 4
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Not even a 5-year-old boy with cancer could persuade egotistical actor Andrew Garfield to be a presenter at the Academy Awards.
The “Spider-Man” star was supposed to take the stage Sunday with Miles Scott, who has come to be known as “Batkid” after the city of San Francisco let him play superhero there.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had arranged with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to further make Miles’ dreams come true.
“The academy was going to make him an official superhero during the Oscar ceremony. Andrew Garfield was going to appoint him ‘Batkid.’ But, in the middle of the dress rehearsal, Garfield decided he didn’t like his lines,” said a well-placed source.
“Garfield refused to go by the script. He came up with his own lines. The producers felt that Garfield’s [rewrites] were not appropriate. Garfield had a tantrum. He stormed off. Miles and his family, who were at the rehearsal, were devastated.”
The producers decided to cut the superhero initiation, but they paid for Miles to go to Disneyland.
“Garfield was such a spoiled brat that he didn’t even want to be a presenter,” said my source. The academy had to call “Captain America” star Chris Evans to sub at the last minute.
Garfield’s agent at CAA didn’t get back to me.
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BRISBANE will beef up its football spending by more than $1.5 million in 2014 and implement a development program in a move that will pave the way for Michael Voss to be offered a new two-year deal.
There is a growing acceptance on the Lions board Voss's coaching career has been hamstrung by vastly inferior levels of financial support compared to what other new coaches have enjoyed.
Brisbane rank in the bottom five on football department expenditure and employ six full-time coaches, while Voss's peers James Hird and Nathan Buckley, at Essendon and Collingwood, have staffs of more than 10 coaches.
Player development is another issue.Voss has been given a mandate to play youngsters, but many do not enter the senior side adequately prepared for AFL football.
It is understood some Brisbane powerbrokers are finding it difficult to pass judgment on his performances.
Chairman Angus Johnson confirmed the football department was set for a funding overhaul but would not reveal the source of the extra money.
"Yes, we are looking to increase our spending on the football department,'' he said.
"Our particular focus will be on development.
"There is no doubt we don't have the resources in that area that other clubs do and we are determined to bring ourselves up to AFL standard.''
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed Brisbane would be the recipient of extra funding under new equalisation measures to be announced at the end of the season.
Johnson refused to comment on whether the revamp was designed to provide extra support to Voss and re-stated the official line that no decision on the senior coach would be made until the end of the season.
However there is no appetite to sack a club hero and the likelihood of finding an experienced and successful replacement after the season is remote.
Paul Roos has been linked to the Lions, but no approach has been made to the Swans premiership coach and industry sources are suggesting Voss will get two more years.
Johnson said Brisbane has endured a period of "belt tightening'' as events such as the Queensland floods and the global financial crisis hit the local market and a series of expensive pay-outs to Brendan Fevola, former CEO Michael Bowers and high performance manager Dan Collins led to consecutive multi-million dollar losses.
But he said it was now time to re-invest in the football department and football side.
The AFL will also ensure the Lions have the capacity to pay 100 per cent of the salary cap which is $9.632 million per club next season, an increase of 5.4 per cent.Johnson has instructed his recruiting staff to enter the market for a big name player.
Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin, who is a free agent at the end of the year, has already been identified as a priority target.
Johnson said Brisbane would only pay the full amount if it was to recruit a big name player to the club not to increase the salaries of the existing list.
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Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. US President Barack Obama has accused some opponents of his healthcare reform proposals of trying to "scare the heck" out of people. Anti-reform campaigners had created "bogeymen out there that just aren't real", he said at a town-hall style meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Passing a healthcare reform bill is Mr Obama's top domestic priority for 2009. But in recent weeks, opponents of reform have been making serious accusations about his proposals. The former Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, said last week that the president wanted to set up "death panels" of government officials with the power to determine whether disabled or elderly Americans are "worthy of healthcare". In fact, under proposals drawn up by the US House of Representatives, the government would pay for elderly Americans to receive voluntary consultations with doctors to discuss their end-of-life care. "The rumour that's been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for death panels that will basically pull the plug on Grandma because we've decided that its too expensive to let her live anymore," said Mr Obama. "Somehow, it has gotten spun into this idea of death panels. I am not in favour of that, I want to clear the air here." Meetings disrupted Some 46 million people in America currently do not have health insurance, and rising healthcare costs are a major contributing factor to America's spiralling budget deficit. But there is disagreement about how to go about reforming the system. HEALTHCARE IN THE US 46 million uninsured, 25 million under-insured Healthcare costs represent 16% of GDP, almost twice OECD average Reform plans would require all Americans to get insurance Some propose public insurance option to compete with private insurers
Q&A: US healthcare reform Democrats in the House of Representatives have reportedly reached a deal on a bill that would mandate all Americans to take out health insurance, with subsidies for the less well-off paid for by a tax on families earning over $350,000 a year. The House bill would also offer Americans who do not get coverage through their employer the chance to join a publicly-run scheme. But in the Senate negotiations have stalled, with moderate senators expressing opposition to both the tax and the public plan proposed by the House. Both chambers need to agree on a bill before it can become law. HAVE YOUR SAY People are afraid to go to the hospital in an emergency, because they do not want to saddle their families with debilitating debt Louise Wilson, Grand Rapids, MI Mr Obama had called on the Senate and the House to agree their own versions of a bill before the August recess, but lawmakers missed the deadline. During the recess, a number of healthcare "town-hall" meetings hosted by Democratic politicians have been targeted by conservative opponents of reform. The opposition has sometimes been quite vocal, with anti-reform campaigners chanting slogans and shouting down supporters of reform. Proponents of reform say the protests are being organised by well-funded lobby groups, while opponents say they are a genuine expression of anger at Mr Obama's proposals. At the New Hampshire meeting, which did not feature any angry scenes, the president called on his opponents to temper their behaviour. "I do hope that we will talk with each other and not over each other," he said. Polls suggest that a majority of Americans support many of the administration's healthcare proposals.
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Aliens were responsible for a series of unexplained fires in fridges, TV’s and mobile phones in an Italian village, according to an Italian government report.
TV news footage at the time showed electrical appliances as well as cookers, a pile of wedding presents and furniture smouldering.
Dozens of experts including scientists, electrical engineers and military boffins, arrived in the village 60 miles east of Palermo to investigate the phenomenon.
Arson was quickly ruled out and at one stage an amazed scientist was interviewed after he described how he saw an unplugged electrical cable burst into flames.
Locals were quick to blame supernatural forces and at the time the Vatican’s chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth backed up their fears and said: "I’ve seen things like this before. Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods. Let’s not forget that Satan and his followers have immense powers."
Now in an interim leaked report published by several Italian newspapers it has emerged that the Civil Protection Department has concluded the most likely cause was "aliens".
The report was ordered by the Italian government and brought together dozens of experts including a NASA scientist. Their two year investigation has cost an estimated £1 million.
According to the report the fires were "caused by a high power electro magnetic emissions which were not man made and reached a power of between 12 and 15 gigawatts."
The report also detailed a possible UFO landing close to the village, citing "burnt imprints which have not been explained were found in a field."
Francesco Mantegna Venerando, Sicily’s Civil Protection chief who coordinated the report, said: "This is not the final report. We are still working on our conclusions and this has been leaked.
"We are not saying that little green men from Mars started the fires but that unnatural forces capable of creating a large amount of electromagnetic energy were responsible.
"This is just one possibility we are also looking at another one which involves the testing of top secret weapons by an unknown power which are also capable of producing an enormous amount of energy."
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Work it, people of Portsmouth!
Like many cities across the South, Portsmouth is faced with a reckoning surrounding its Confederate monument.
Mayor John Rowe called for the city to move its Confederate monument from Olde Towne to Cedar Grove Cemetery, according to the Pilot’s Ana Ley. But moving it isn’t enough. What happens next?
A Virginian named Nathan Coflin believes that the monument should be replaced with an homage to one of P-town’s most celebrated daughters: one Missy Misdemeanor Elliott.
“We believe it is time to finally replace the Confederate Monument in Olde Towne Portsmouth Virginia near the intersection of Court and High streets with a new statue of a true Portsmouth native hero,” his petition, which 27,476 people have signed, starts. “Who better to encapsulate the culture and spirit of the city enshrined in a new monument than Grammy Award winning rapper, dancer, and record producer Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott?”
Missy was born in Portsmouth on July 1, 1971. She’s actually real life from here. But you’d never know it if you took a drive around Portsmouth.
“I want a statue that represents the diversity and modern history of the city,” said Coflin, a Virginia Beach native who is a social worker in Portsmouth. “And nobody fits that better than Portsmouth’s own Missy Elliott.” I give so much love to the folks behind the rise of public art in Portsmouth. They have worked to incorporate diversity into their projects. But Portsmouth isn’t currently representing anybody quite like Missy. “I work with the population of Portsmouth so much, and the monuments erected so often fail to reflect the population in which they are around,” said Coflin, who will be keeping people updated on the petition at his Twitter page. “I want to show a show off a contemporary side of Portsmouth culture and contributions to pop culture.” Yes, art celebrating an empowered African-American woman who rose from those very streets feels right. In a city that is 54.2% black, more art dedicated to people like her is pretty much necessary. She’s got all the accolades you could want from someone a city is celebrating. 28 Grammy nominations, with six wins. She is a living legend, full stop. She’s motherf*cking Missy! And she’s from here! Why aren’t we celebrating that?!? I’m going to make this next point in my indoor voice, because I know not everyone is trying to hear this, but it’s true: If Missy was a white musician who made music less threatening to the gentry, there would already be prominent Missy public art. There would probably be a Missy Avenue. We might even be talking about naming schools and libraries after her. It’s not just her success, or the fact that she’s a person of color who beat the challenges of adversity, that we should be celebrating her for. It’s the nature of the music she made. Missy makes people happy, y’all! That means something. Her music makes us dance. That means something too! This is great, joyous, culturally important art: This is great, joyous, culturally important art: This is great, joyous, culturally important art: Now, actually sticking a marble statue of Missy where the Confederate monument used to be might be problematic for various reasons — and it might be a little on the nose, at that. It’s hard to get anything done in a city, particularly one with serious budget constraints. But there is no reason there shouldn’t at least be a large scale mural of Missy. It wouldn’t even necessarily need the blessing of the City of Portsmouth, as art is covered under the First Amendment. All we need is a property owner with a wall they’re willing to offer, a capable artist, and the money to make it happen. C’mon, P-town. Do something supa fly. Create some art dedicated to one of the most popular, celebrated, and downright fun people to ever be born within your borders. Another day, another chance to celebrate someone who represents the everyday citizens of a black-majority city.
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With thousands of unaccompanied minors flooding our border, media coverage has focused on border security, detention facilities, the trauma to the kids — everything except for the root cause. Why are the young people coming and why in such record numbers?
Consider reports of the mythical chupacabra. While watching the TV show Monster Quest, I was struck by the number of “sightings” in Puerto Rico of the creature. The evidence showed that the “chupacabras” spotted were actually monkeys. But many people wanted to believe a goat-sucking monster was real. Shades of Loch Ness and Bigfoot; a mix of confirmation bias and mass hysteria? People want to believe myths.
So let’s return to the immigration story. Both push and pull factors drive migration and are important to forging solutions. The push factors are the widespread poverty and unstable societies of Latin American nations. The greatest pull factor is jobs in the United States.
Partisans regularly ignore the pull factors. Proponents of “secure the border first” are naïve at best. As former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has said, border security is a symptom, not the problem.
No amount of border security will overcome the pull factor of jobs.
Why don’t we hear about the extent to which American employers are responsible for this pull factor? Listening to the conversation during the Texas Republican primary and runoff, you would think that the immigrants themselves are the sole cause of the problem. Conservatives embrace de-facto amnesty for illegal employers. Has anyone heard of back taxes or retro-fines and penalties for employers who hire illegally?
If we prosecute illegal employers with the same vigor we demonize immigrants, employers themselves will demand reform and worker visas.
But in addition to jobs, we have another pull factor. In 2012, President Barack Obama issued an executive order known as deferred action. Under that order, some minors under limited conditions would, at least temporarily, not be deported. After Obama told Hispanic leaders for three years that his hands were tied, just before the last presidential election, presto, we got deferred action.
No one said, “Pants on fire.” The switcheroo worked; Obama won Hispanic votes.
Much of the speculation about why we now have a tidal wave of immigrant minors is not plausible. Has poverty worsened in Latin America? No. In fact, Mexico’s economy has improved in recent years, actually reversing migration patterns.
Is there factual evidence that violent crimes, gang activities, human rights violations or civil wars have increased in Central America? No.
So what has changed? A new rumor has percolated: “Minors will be allowed to stay! President Obama did it!” Word has spread in Latin America. “Deferred temporarily” has morphed into “No deportation.” Alas, the law of unintended consequences.
Thousands of desperately poor families want to believe this myth. After all, in Latin America, political leaders are so powerful they trump the written laws. As the widespread “appearances” of the chupacabra show us, facts do not matter when people want to believe something and have hope.
Disadvantaged people do not research the Web or try to uncover the truth in the stories they hear. They act, they move, they go — hoping for the best, their hope fueled by rumor and misinterpretation.
Now we must deal with the reality and costs left in the wake of Obama’s campaign trick. Sadly, the political backlash following this influx of young people will set back the modernization of our outdated immigration laws.
There is a compelling business case, economic case and moral case for updating our immigration laws. But many Americans prefer myths. We are (goat) suckers for confirmation bias.
Edward Retta is a Dallas-based cross-cultural consultant, a supporter of “Bibles, Badges and Business” and active in the Evangelical Immigration Table. He has worked in 14 Latin American countries. He may be contacted at [email protected].
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Protests turned violent after a union leader accused of money laundering was arrested, with his supporters claiming the arrest is politically motivated. Ruben Nunez, the teachers' union leader (National Co-ordination of Education Workers) is accused of siphoning off money illegally raised from union members in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Mr Nunez's supporters claim that the union leader is, in fact, innocent and have set up roadblocks around Oaxaca while they demand his release.
EURONEWS Teachers in Mexico have clashed with police after their union leader was arrested
CNTE have described Mr Nunez as a "political prisoner" and "hostage of the federal government". The union has called for protests to also take place in Mexico city throughout the week. According to deputy attorney general Gilberto Higuera, Mr Nunez was behind a deal that saw companies supplying the teacher's union to illegally charge 3.5% commission on sales. He reported that between 2013 and 2015, more than 24 million Pesos (£905,000) was raised and used for personal use and funding demonstrations.
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Diver City Tokyo Plaza has announced that the life-size Unicorn Gundam statue will be starting its first full exhibition on September 24, 2017 (Sunday).
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A trailer shop "GUNDAM TRAILER SHOP" will also be opened for everyone to buy Gundam series related products!
Also, a special photo deck and camera Android application will be released. This is for promotional purposes to those who wants to see the completed Unicorn Gundam statue before its opening date in Augmented Reality way. The app will only be implemented at the Diver City Tokyo Plaza.
As a part of the "Tokyo Gundam Project 2017", a photo deck is set up in the front of the statue in the Symbol Promenade Park between August 26, to November 26 2017. In addition to being able to photograph the 1/1 scale Unicorn Gundam statue freely, photos by the photographer in the "photo deck" will be also for sale, so make sure you don't miss the opportunity to get one even better picture with your best pose together with the statue before and after the grand opening in September.
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A trailer type shop "GUNDAM TRAILER SHOP" is handling Gundam related products will be opened on the festival square from September 24. Inside the store is addition to the sale of the products that you will see in "The Gundam Base Tokyo", this is a mini corner which is an introduction to the work of "Mobile Suit Gundam UC" series. Business hours are from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
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A camera application for smartphones is currently on Google Play and App Store for free download. The app will only activate only when you stand in certain spots in the Diver City Tokyo Plaza Hall. The instructions on where to point and how to operate the augmented reality app are included in the app itself.
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id1258011893?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.bandainamcoent.BNEI0315
The life-size Unicorn Gundam's image will be ready to be displayed its almost full potential like we have seen in the Orignal Video Animation (OVA) Mobile Suit Unicorn Gundam.Bandai has tried their best to make it transformable from Unicorn to Destroy mode, the life-size replica is going to offer gimmicks such as psycho-frame activation with different colored-lights, changing modes of its head, deploying shoulders, waist, and knee parts. Also, the 1/1 Unicorn Gundam will have its own decals designed by Katoki Hajime.RX-0 Unicorn Gundam Ver. TWC (TOKYO WATER FRONT CITY)English inscription: RX-0 UNICORN GUNDAM Ver.TWC19.7 m49 tons50 Places2017 Sunday, September 241-1-10 Aoyama, Koto Ward, Tokyo Diversity Tokyo Plaza Festival SquareSaturday, August 26 - Sunday, November 26 from 10: 00 ~ 18: 00 [Scheduled]Photographs taken by photographers and sellingprice of original mount: 1,500 yen (tax included)
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With many cities in northeast China smothered by thick smog in recent months, the widespread use of face masks and air purifiers comes as no surprise. But some local governments have turned to a less familiar tool for combating air pollution: the mist cannon.
Late last year, Hunan Jiujiu Mining Safety Equipment began marketing a specialized version of the dust control machines that have been used for years by cement, steel, and coal mining companies. Founded in 2011, the company is based in Changsha, the capital of the Hunan province, an area long known for coal mining.
The machines work by nebulizing liquid into tiny particles and spraying them into the air, where they combine with harmful dust particles to form water droplets that fall to the ground. This reduces the chance of workers (especially miners) developing lung and respiratory problems.
The same idea can help the residents of heavily polluted cities, the company reasons. Seeing a potential new market, it started developing ”multi-function dust control machines” in 2013 and, at the end of last year, began marketing them to government departments involved in infrastructure, sanitation, demolition, and the environment. A marketing video (in Chinese) by the company starts with a scene of urban pollution:
A mobile version of the machine that can be mounted on a vehicle and operated while in motion starts at about 600,000 yuan ($93,000). A stationary version starts much lower, at around 80,000 yuan. Those prices are roughly equivalent to non-specialized dust control machines on the market.
According to the company, the upgraded machine’s main advantages are that it consumes less electricity and water, and that it can produce smaller particles than its traditional brethren (down to 10 microns, compared to 30). When the size of the nebulized liquid particles equals that of the dust, the company says, the two kinds of substances are mostly likely to combine to form a water drop.
Of course, some of the most troublesome pollution particles are smaller than 10 microns. Two commonly used pollution measurements are of PM10 (particles 10 microns and below) and PM2.5 (2.5 microns and below). The company admits the new machine can’t catch everything, but says it’s still effective. Two of the machines eliminated the dust from a six-story building’s explosive demolition in about five minutes, office director Lu Huang told Quartz.
Many cities have been sold on the idea. The first government buyer of the multi-function machines was the Guangxi province’s city of Guigang, which early this year acquired five of the machines to control dust and smog. Other customers include the cities of Changsha and Zhuzhou (both in the Hunan province), and cities in the provinces of Shandong and Shanxi, as well as in Inner Mongolia.
With parts of China getting hit by staggering levels of pollution, sales have jumped in recent months, according to the company, although executives didn’t want to specify how much.
Changsha’s Yuhua district used one of the machines on Dec. 8 (see photo above). Zhong Zhihong, the district’s director of the environmental protection, told Science and Technology Daily (link in Chinese) that “the multi-function dust control machines could work without gathering water on the road and won’t affect traffic. Yuhua district will use the machine more frequently during heavily polluted days.”
May Shi is on Twitter at @aMay_Shi.
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OTTAWA — A group of senators examining Sen. Pamela Wallin’s travel expenses completed its review on Wednesday, concluding that the Saskatchewan senator must reimburse an additional $17,621.98 in expenses, bringing her total to about $139,000.
The Senate subcommittee’s decision concerns an additional $20,978 in expenses that an independent audit last week had flagged for further study. On Wednesday, about a week after the audit’s release, the three-senator subcommittee determined that Wallin should reimburse all but $3,357 of that money.
The Deloitte audit of Wallin’s travel expenses between January 2009 and September 2012 found more than $121,000 in expense claims that it said needed to be repaid. The Senate’s internal economy committee recommended last week that Wallin be ordered to repay that amount. She had already repaid $38,000, leaving about $83,000 plus interest.
The auditors said a further $20,978 in claims was “subject to interpretation,” as the claims were mostly from “networking events.” Sen. Gerald Comeau, chair of the Senate’s internal economy committee, said last week those items would be reviewed individually.
In a statement Wednesday, the three-senator internal economy steering committee said it has determined that Wallin must reimburse $17,621.98 of that money. That brings her total tab to $138,969, the largest amount among the four senators whose expenses underwent independent audits.
The three-senator steering committee is made up of Comeau, fellow Conservative Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, and Liberal Sen. George Furey.
Wallin has called the audit process “fundamentally flawed” and unfair, saying she was determined to be an “activist senator” who would advance causes important to Canadians when appointed in 2009, and that Deloitte retroactively applied spending rules to previous years that were put in place in 2012. In a statement to reporters last week, she said the audit disallowed expenses originally approved by Senate finance officials based on “some arbitrary and undefined sense of what constitutes Senate business or common Senate practice.”
But she vowed to repay any money the Senate asks her to repay, including interest, out of her own resources.
The full Senate will debate Wallin’s recommended punishment when it reconvenes in the fall. The upper chamber’s internal economy committee also voted last week to refer Wallin’s expenses to the RCMP.
Wallin, appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, is the fourth senator to have expenses referred to the Mounties.
Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Mac Harb are already under police investigation. Wallin, Brazeau and Duffy, all former Conservatives, are now sitting as independents, as is Harb, a former Liberal.
In February in the House of Commons, Harper vouched for Wallin’s expenses.
“In terms of Sen. Wallin, I have looked at the numbers,” he said at the time. “Her travel costs are comparable to any parliamentarian travelling from that particular area of the country over that period of time.”
In terms of Sen. Wallin, I have looked at the numbers. Her travel costs are comparable to any parliamentarian travelling from that particular area of the country over that period of time
But Harper’s office has since said that he was referring to the total amount, not defending the appropriateness of individual expenses.
This week in Whitehorse, a stop on his annual tour of northern Canada, the prime minister was asked why he stood in the Commons to defend Wallin’s expenses.
“At the time, I indicated that all of the senator’s individual expenses would be subject to robust scrutiny through an audit that of course has since been done and obviously has uncovered some significant problems,” Harper said.
Harper also noted that Wallin quit the Conservative caucus months ago.
“I would expect that action will be taken to ensure full accountability for any breaking of rules,” he said.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~What? Come on now people, we all know Toph's a rough girl and it looks like Sokka enjoyed it.As you can guess, this is a follow up from me other pic I posted a few days ago. [link] And thank you Leona for writing these little ficlets to go with the pics.Of course me stupid scanner has once again screwed up the colors. And please ignore all the anatomy mistakes. Stupid anatomy! Its still a heartless b***h so it is! But one day I shall conquer it and make it my b***h!Hey don't give me that look. Its 6 in the morning over here and I haven't slept yet okay.Oh and if you don't like this kind of stuff, then what the hell are you doing here looking at it?Toph and Sokka (c) Mike and BryanArt (c) The PhoebsterFiclet (c) = Leona629
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Act I, Scene I
A village street showing Jeppe’s house. Jeppe, with a letter in his hand.
Jeppe. It is a shame that the deacon is not in town, for there's so much Latin in my son's letter that I can't understand. Tears come to my eyes when I think that a poor peasant's son has got so much book-learning, especially as we aren't tenants of the university. I have heard from people who know about learning that he can dispute with any clergyman alive. Oh, if only my wife and I could have the joy of hearing him preach on the hill, before we die, we shouldn't grudge all the money we have spent on him! I can see that Peer the deacon doesn't much relish the idea of my son's coming. I believe that he is afraid of Rasmus Berg. It is a terrible thing about these scholarly people. They are so jealous of each other, and no one of them can endure the thought that another is as learned as he. The good man preaches fine sermons here in the village and can talk about envy so that the tears come to my eyes; but it seems to me that he isn't entirely free from that fault himself. I can't understand why it should be so. If any one said that a neighbor of mine understood farming better than I, should I take that to heart? Should I hate my neighbor for that? No, indeed, Jeppe Berg would never do such a thing. But if here isn't Peer the deacon![1]
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Seven people, including three juveniles, have been arrested and charged in a gang-related machete attack caught on camera at a train station in Chicago.The brutal attack on two brothers happened on Chicago's Brown Line Kedzie CTA station in the Albany Park neighborhood early Monday morning.A 26-year-old man and his 17-year-old brother were waiting for the train shortly after midnight Monday when a group of four men and three teens approached them and asked them to flash gang signs.When the brothers refused and stated they were not part of a gang, police say 18-year-old Mario Elvira pulled out a machete and struck the 26-year-old victim in the head.The 26-year-old remains hospitalized at Swedish Covenant Hospital in stable condition. The attack caused a gash 6 inches long and 1 1/2 inches deep, which required more than 30 stitches to close.Police said the seven suspects - Elvira; Jean Salvatierra, 23; Kevin Ramierz, 19; Kevar Preston, 20; and two 15-year-old males and one 15-year-old female - then fled.They were apprehended by police shortly thereafter. All of the suspects are from the North side of Chicago.A source, who provided Chicago station WLS-TV/ABC7 with security surveillance footage, said he believes the only reason the attackers stopped was because a CTA train was approaching.The attack was surprising to one neighborhood group, because gang activity in Albany Park has seemingly been in decline."There's some tagging and occasional incidents of violence, but it's not part of a larger systemic trend," said Eric Filson, Albany Park Neighbors.The suspects appeared before Judge Bourgeois in bond court Tuesday. Elvira and Preston are being held on $450,000 bond, while Salvatierra and Ramirez are being held on $250,000 bond. They are next due in court on Sept. 15.
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DAYTON, OH—Stating that the young pair of freaks seem like they would be perfect for each other, Jerger Elementary School third-grade teacher Karen Neel told reporters Thursday she was pretty surprised the two weird kids in her class hadn’t hit it off yet.
“I could tell on the first day of school that Paul [Thompson] and Wesley [Shuman] were weirdos, and I just assumed they would take to each other, you know?” said Neel, adding that logic would seem to dictate the two very odd 9-year-olds would gravitate toward each other if for no other reason than because none of their other classmates ever wanted to talk to them. “But for whatever reason, they still haven’t clicked. I honestly don’t get it.”
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“Maybe they’re holding out for more popular friends?” Neel continued. “I hope not, because it’s not looking like that’s happening anytime soon.”
According to Neel, her bafflement over the strange children’s failure to become friends only increased after she attempted to facilitate interaction between the two by assigning them to adjoining seats. The boys scarcely seemed to acknowledge each other, she said, with Thompson spending much of his time hunched over his desk drawing imaginary spacecraft, and Shuman amusing himself by making animal noises.
On one occasion, the two misfits reportedly both wrapped their faces with tape during art class, but tragically, neither one noticed that the other was enjoying the exact same activity.
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“No one—and I mean no one—in class likes them,” the 33-year-old teacher said. “Sometimes I just want to sit the two of them down and say, ‘Look, Paul, you’re a spaz, and Wes, you’re a spaz, too. You have no other choice here. If you don’t want to sit by yourself every recess or endure the constant bullying all alone, you’re going to have to buddy up.’ How have they not figured this out? After all, they’re weird, not dumb.”
“They at least have to realize they’re a little offbeat, right?” she added. “Because the rest of the class knew it the first time they saw one of them in the cafeteria sculpting their mashed potatoes into the shape of a human head.”
Though both boys are relatively timid, sources said neither seemed opposed to making new friends, with Shuman often answering questions in pig Latin in a misguided attempt to impress his classmates, and Thompson occasionally eating slivers of notebook paper for attention.
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Neel said the fact that a friendship between the two hadn’t panned out seemed even more shocking when one stopped to consider all the activities that brought them together at school, from having to stop by the office before lunch to take their medication, to being partnered up for projects because no other students ever want to work with them, to sitting out of gym class due to their respective skin and foot disorders.
“Everyone needs a social outlet, even kids who seem perfectly content just mumbling to themselves about Transformers,” Neel said. “I mean, we’re more than halfway through the school year at this point. They could have been doing weirdo things together this whole time, like sharing inside jokes or making each other feel better about their mutual strangeness. It’s sad, really.”
At press time, Neel expressed hope that one of the weird kids would at least make friends with the new student who just transferred into her class and doesn’t speak much English.
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